INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[amwchickin]

strssdmom - Mine have eaten mice, frogs, moles, and even gone down in the creek at our property and found crawdad! This summer I heard some noise from the creek and thought the dog was down there "bathing" and I walked over to see what was going on. There were two chickens down there taking turns banging a crawdad over a rock!

 

[pginsber]

The littles waited patiently in their shoe box for their poopy brooder to get cleaned. Now tomorrow while it's raining, I will be giving five little swamp rats that look like this little dirty wookie, a bath!

kabhyper1: Your chicks & wookie are very cute! Althought bathing 5 wookies sounds like a very BIG job. You're killing me with the videos of your silkies. Stories of them roosting on the floor, and their personalities--I'm trying to ignore the feeling that I'm missing out by not having any in my flock! As fall arrives, we're getting about 4 eggs a day from 6 pullets. Down from usual, but still a decent amount. Mom and babies are doing great and she's been taking them out every day. Yesterday, Mom showed the babies that one should run to the fence when a human approaches. The big girls run to meet us to see what we're bringing them, but it was so funny to see the chicks running and peeping, even though they are clueless why they're running. We'll have to keep the flashlight close tonight. We live near White River with lots of tall trees that blow against the power lines in high winds. Very likely we'll lose power.

 

[pginsber]

[COLOR=FFA500]strssdmom[/COLOR] - Mine have eaten mice, frogs, moles, and even gone down in the creek at our property and found crawdad! This summer I heard some noise from the creek and thought the dog was down there "bathing" and I walked over to see what was going on. There were two chickens down there taking turns banging a crawdad over a rock!

YIKES! Sounds like this new chicken mom will have to prepare herself for the awesome curiousities of the flock!

 

[PimentoPlymouth]

Me and my wife have decided to start a paleo diet and was wondering if anyone has any expierence with it at all. Dosent seem like it will be to hard once we get used to it. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[amwchickin]

I wanted to update everyone on my flock situation. I took blood and mucus samples the other week and took them over to the Purdue office by Patoka. I got the results back and my flock had been infected with infectious Coryza. NASTY STUFF. I'm guessing it was from one of the birds I had brought home from a swap at TSC. So everyone was either sick or now a carrier.

The Purdue people even offered to come out to my place and look at what was going on. I said that would be great. The next day a few people came up and looked around, checking my coup and where I had food/water. They took samples of droppings and a few eggs that I had saved.

My setup was fine; I was keeping things clean. By this time, even after getting meds in them, I had a few birds close to death. The one that had puss coming from an eye had passed and I had her in the fridge. The people took the dead one and asked if they could take one of the sicker ones. I had no problem with that.

Two days later I get a call from a friend, who actually works in that office. He had nothing but bad news. He told me they worked through things quickly so I could make a decision on what to do with the flock.

I of course only had to choices. Keep medicating the flock, never getting to use the eggs...not that I was getting a whole lot of eggs lately anyway...and I wouldn't be able to add any birds. Or, cull them all and start over after the winter.

With much regret and sadness, I decided to cull. Over the last few days my dad and I put down every chicken and turkey. (I had been wondering whether the turkeys would be okay, but they suggested that we put them down as well, just to be safe.) ***Okay, not every chicken, because my braniac EE, Einstein literally flew the coop and has been MIA since the first day. I knew that girl was smart!!
So we've been on the lookout for her, saw her briefly, but I think she knows better and may not come back. We'll see.

So all the birds are going to an ag department for research. My brother had a connection. At least they won't go to complete waste. My dad is pretty upset because he was planning on using one of the turkeys for Christmas. They were heavy things!!

Now the yard is horribly empty, except for when we let the puppies out. I am slowly getting things cleaned up and put away. I have my list made for when I decide to start again. I think I will probably use one of the hatcheries and then they're all coming from the same place.

This has been an awesome experience and I have learned a lot!! I think next time I will know better how to take care of things (I know you can't prevent everything from happening to farm animals...)

I will continue to read through the forum and throw and insight or two in once in awhile. I have to at least have some entertainment this winter, and you all provide that!

THANK YOU to everyone who gave suggestions and provided a little comfort for me! Carry on!

 

[gunchief25]

amwchickin~ Wow that's sad to hear. Hope you get your flock built back up soon.

 

[Too Fast]

Is it just a single strand - just one big triangle? Or a web?

Right now just one big triangle, with the closer together trees webbed a bit. I would like to add more, I just haven't gotten to it yet. I don't have trees on the far side of the pasture, so I'm trying to figure out how to do it. It had to be at least 10 feet up, since the alpacas run around out there.

So how does the fishing line work with bats around? There are a lot in my yard at night.

I don't want to annoy the local bat population and have them start looking for insects in my house.

 

[CRSelvey]

Good Morning Everyone!

I have missed you all. I woke up to a very nice message from Mother2Hens basically telling me that I am a big slacker and get back on, lol. I have about 1500 unread posts to catch up on, so that might take awhile. Our vacation was really great. Here is a picture of the front yard where we stayed. I spent a lot of time looking at real estate prices to see if we could live there but two things got in the way. First, I need about two million dollars to be able to afford a house in a nice neighborhood. I'm sure my future lotto winnings will cover it, but that means I will have to start playing. Second, My DH said if we move to the beach, I can't take the chickens. Seriously, I don't know why he thinks chickens don't live at the beach, but I guess that means we won't be either. I just got them this year!! What is he thinking???


The lighthouse down the road. Turns out that if you are afraid of heights, climbing lighthouse steps with your three year old isn't a good idea.

We came home to our dogs, cat, and chickens to find them mostly in good health. I am sad to report that my favorite little Appenzeller Spitzhauben girl isn't doing very well though. Something is making it hard for her to stand up. I thought maybe she hurt herself and just needed some space, so I put her in a crate in the mudroom. Her wings seem fine, her legs don't show any injury, but she is very unstable on them and one seems very weak (the toes just curl any which way). She hasn't seemed to improve much in the last week. With all the things going on this week and last I haven't been able to get her to a vet for another opinion, but I really hope I can get her healed. She is the sweetest bird. On another note, she and her brothers have grown so much that I now am sure I have a pullet and two cockerels. I really can't keep the boys, as I have two already, so I think they will be going back to Judy (if she will still have them).

I hope all of you are doing well and that you are all ready for winter. I can't wait to catch up on the goings on around here.
Cheryl

 

[Leahs Mom]

amw - will you be able to start new birds this coming spring? And can they be in the same coop and yard w/no problem?

That is such a frustrating situation.

Your story makes me even more leery of poultry swaps/sales, etc. (if that's possible...was pretty leery already). I've been pretty determined to try to get a good base for breeding so that I could perpetuate my own flock as much as possible. My first 6 are hatchery chicks. The second group were a mix - 1 chick hatched from shipped eggs and Three day-old chicks from babymakes6 to add to the brood (broody raised). Third round hatched from my own flock w/broody (currently 3 chicks).

I need to broaden the lines a bit by getting in either eggs or day-olds from some trusted breeders. But after I have enough diversity, I hope to just continue to hatch if possible.

 

[strssdmom]

strssdmom - Mine have eaten mice, frogs, moles, and even gone down in the creek at our property and found crawdad! This summer I heard some noise from the creek and thought the dog was down there "bathing" and I walked over to see what was going on. There were two chickens down there taking turns banging a crawdad over a rock!

That is hilarious. I have witnessed them with a bullfrog (young) it was not a pretty death for the bullfrog. The mice just surprised me. It was a site, let me tell you.