INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[Leahs Mom]

Oh...and here's a hen...also from the Greenfire website.

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[cwaf]

to be honest, I am disappointed with my Austalorp hens. I researched before getting them and found they were supposed to be prolific egg layers. I have the Australorp rooster, 2 Australorp hens (well, almost 1 year old) and 3 "miscellaneous reds" purchased at TSC last year. I pretty much identified two of the reds as Red Stars from photos online, and the other red I am not sure of., She does not have nearly as much cream color and her egg is slightly lighter in shade than the other two. However, all 3 reds have been great layers. I consistently get 2 or 3 a day from them and they are extra large size. They have not waivered at all, even with the winter. I have a light in the coop on a timer to still keep the 12 hours or so of daylight going.)The Australorp's eggs are much lighter in color so I can tell them apart from the reds. Between the two of them, I may get 5 or 6 eggs a week. Occasionally, like today, all 5 laid. However, yesterday was 3 and the day before only 2--and none from the Australorps. And none of my hens are what I would call "friendly". The reds will let eat from my hand, but don't want to be touched by me. The rooster (the "General") does not like me touching them, anyway. However the reds let my wife stroke their beaks and waddles--but still not touch their feathers. The Australorps usually keep their distance from me. I am not a mean guy, either!

It will be interesting to see how the offspring will be, both in personality and coloring. They are already surprising me with their coloring. I am very surprised to see how light they are--almost a dirty white--even though the father is a Black Australorp and the mothers are the reds. I have one from each hatched group that came from an Australorp egg and they are both black, as I would expect. However, I have 3 that are from a red's egg and they are still 98% black. When the 3 reds were young they were already the dark, reddish brown that they continue to be. The offspring have no sign of that coloring. It is funny how genetics work!

 

[Leahs Mom]

Hmmmm. I had heard the the BAs were feed thrifty and do well with eggs. I don't add light as I like a more natural approach, but either way I wouldn't judge laying during this time of year with or without light. I think I'd wait til late spring before making a final judgement.

And the colors are strange. There is a lady here on BYC that is a genetics whiz. (If I read it my head spins!) But I'll bet she could explain why they are coloring like that. If they are regular hatchery birds there will also be alot of mix in the lines as they aren't like the heritage lines. The hatcheries are breeding a "representative" of the breed so you never know what is mixed in there to achieve their objectives of getting lots of eggs or huge meat production.

Kind of mixes things up and makes it hard to figure out what may happen when breeding!

 

[animallover2202]

I think Flo is my oldest baby she has alot of her tail feathers growing already and most of her wing feathers are coming in fully.

 

[cwaf]

Hmmmm. I had heard the the BAs were feed thrifty and do well with eggs. I don't add light as I like a more natural approach, but either way I wouldn't judge laying during this time of year with or without light. I think I'd wait til late spring before making a final judgement.

And the colors are strange. There is a lady here on BYC that is a genetics whiz. (If I read it my head spins!) But I'll bet she could explain why they are coloring like that. If they are regular hatchery birds there will also be alot of mix in the lines as they aren't like the heritage lines. The hatcheries are breeding a "representative" of the breed so you never know what is mixed in there to achieve their objectives of getting lots of eggs or huge meat production.

Kind of mixes things up and makes it hard to figure out what may happen when breeding!

the BA's have been laying like this from the beginning last August. The large one even stopped laying for 2 months and did not start again until January 1st--her deadline. I was going to get rid of her because she was not producing and I told her she had until the 1st of the year to start laying again! She took me literally!

The reds began laying in late June--about 17 weeks. I figured that if TSC advertised the reds as "miscellaneous reds", then no one really knew what genetic makeup was in them! I do not mind mutts, tho! After all, I am not a pure bred, either!

 

[Leahs Mom]

yep...mutts are okay w/me too...but when breeding it's kind of like that proverbial box of chocolates!

 

[Crafty chick]

I got 3 eggs today! Yay, only 2 more need to start. I've been letting mine free range more. Today was their first time without me outside with them.... though I watched them from the window. They stayed within 20 ft of the coop. The cats inspected their fortress, and decided they didn't have any goodies. The only dog other than ours in a mile is the neighbors old gimpy dauchson mix. It has an invisible fence, and stands at the property line wagging her tail when she sees the chickens out. If she did make the 50 ft walk, she couldn't catch one anyway. My carton is almost full in the fridge! Glad they decided to start laying. I figured out why my shells are even harder than the store eggshells.... they have been eating the PDZ. It says its safe for them, so I'm not worried.... but I think i need to replenish it. Anyway, hopfully next time I post will be a 4 egg day. Good night all

 

[DeepFriedBacon]

Hehe, mine won't go outside the tractor unless I'm out with them either.

 

[SallyinIndiana]

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.

Thanks, I do have a light on a timer in the coop as well as a red heat light and white heat light. I know that they are getting 16 hours of light.
I was reading the thread posted on the FB page. I think it might be that the feed I got from a local feed place was not high enough in protein causing them to be delayed. I gave it to them for close 8-10 weeks. It did not even save me that much money, just easier to get. I tried several herbs last week but gave up on those as I noticed that the chickens did not eat them or the food I put them in. They would just pick out the pellets and leave the dried herbs. They did eat the herbs when I put them in bread but bread is not full of protein so I quit giving it to them.

I got 3 eggs today! Yay, only 2 more need to start. I've been letting mine free range more. Today was their first time without me outside with them.... though I watched them from the window. They stayed within 20 ft of the coop. The cats inspected their fortress, and decided they didn't have any goodies. The only dog other than ours in a mile is the neighbors old gimpy dauchson mix. It has an invisible fence, and stands at the property line wagging her tail when she sees the chickens out. If she did make the 50 ft walk, she couldn't catch one anyway. My carton is almost full in the fridge! Glad they decided to start laying. I figured out why my shells are even harder than the store eggshells.... they have been eating the PDZ. It says its safe for them, so I'm not worried.... but I think i need to replenish it. Anyway, hopfully next time I post will be a 4 egg day. Good night all

Congrats on the eggs.

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Quote: I have 1 EE right now, she has been with us since July and was a freebee. She lays infrequently at best, this makes her 3rd egg today! Very pretty girl, Gold and blue. Greenish legs. Last year the eggs were green, this first one this year was a pretty blue with a greenish tint, She must have heard me discussing her future here! The not laying doesn't really bother me, but her social graces are awful. She is an aggressive bird towards the youngest hens, that's finally improving too. I am hoping to get BCM and sussex soon, I really want to add color to our egg basket

I postponed my egg order since my lavender orps came early.

Well the post office called! My new babies arrived. But all is not well. I ordered 5 Millie's and 3 bantam buff brahmas. Only 2 bantams are alive and I now have 6 "filler" chicks. 2 of the fillers were barely alive and I've been holding them under a hotter light and then on a heat pad and rubbing them gently. They have now been returned to the rest. Then I went to look closer at the dead ones and one kicked so now it is on the heat pad with its own light getting massages too!! I've called Ideal and they are replacing them all. And I had them do it for the end of March and hope its warmer. I knew I was taking a chance but its still hard to see the little cute dead bodies! And so now I've had my first shipment experience.

aww, I am so sorry