INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[ellymayRans]

I think you did the right thing, but I'm sure it was hard.

I vote for Meyer hatchery if they have the breeds you want all available on the same day. Their service is great and you can get a giant thing of chick vitamins for about $5 to use instead of tiny save a chick packages. Others have had wonderful success with McMurray too. The trick is finding one hatchery with all of the breeds you want available on the same day. Also call the hatchery as some hatcheries ship from different locations and you mentioned wanting to get them from the same place.

I have used MyPetChicken in the past before I realized how different hatchery birds are from breeder birds! However, their customer service was excellent...it was like talking to my local feed store pals...really nice people. I had a few die in route and they were more than happy to credit and replace putting in with my following order. With that said, if you are looking for a colorful egg basket ... it will be much less "pretty" with hatchery birds. My EE lays just a Really pale blue/green but it's really almost white is so light; my Marans from them neither lay above a 4 if that on the color chart. Now my BCM Marans I got from a breeder are at a 7 and beautiful! I ordered from the Marans variety and got a Blue and Golden Cuckoo the others sent died and I just have an outstanding credit I'll prob never use! lol O well... I do have several on your list though so if/when you're interested just let me know. I've got 3 dozen of all kinds in the bator now and I vaccinate for Mareks too once hatched!! Funny how I thought I was addicted to chickens...and now hatching! I do have some from Aug that I hatched too..including Frizzle boy and smooth girl Cochin bantams..I would have a hundred of them if I could! They are sooo stinkin' cute..much more personable than my silkies!

On a sad note though...I have/had a super sweet little paint silkie hen that waited just about a month ago to start laying..she was prob a year in Oct. Well I put in about 10 of her eggs in the bator and boom..2 days ago she's just gone! I've searched the woods and everything..it was the day we got all of that rain...I know I saw her that day under the big coop but when it was lockdown time she was nowhere to be found! I can't believe it! She was the only true silkie girl I had, the other is a sizzle and older and she hasn't laid in forever it seems...she's prob got a nice stockpile I haven't found! I just really really hope at least a few of her eggs hatch...and are girls!

 

[kabhyper1]

Thanks for the input

I think I might try some curtains when I move the stinkers they just wait until I leave and go back :-/ The nest boxes are probably the same height as my lowest roost but I may do some reconfiguring because I need to add more boxes before the babies start laying.
Kab- are your boxes on the floor? Do you have a pic behind the curtains? I'm trying to figure out where to put the new boxes.

I agree !! And I was just thinking the same thing yesterday, where's John?

This is the closest thing to a behind the curtain pic. When I moved broody Lavender, I put the divider back in. So I have two sides of nesting areas in each box. I just use the hay my alpacas waste on the floor for bedding. Once in awhile my submissive rooster will sleep in them, but no one else tries. Yes my boxes are floor level. Curtains will probably work well in elevated boxes. I just took scraps of material and stapled them to the 2x4, then cut them into stips so the hens could get in better. It also helps with egg eaters if you are ever unlucky enough to have one of those.

 

[browncow15]

This is the closest thing to a behind the curtain pic. When I moved broody Lavender, I put the divider back in. So I have two sides of nesting areas in each box. I just use the hay my alpacas waste on the floor for bedding. Once in awhile my submissive rooster will sleep in them, but no one else tries. Yes my boxes are floor level. Curtains will probably work well in elevated boxes. I just took scraps of material and stapled them to the 2x4, then cut them into stips so the hens could get in better. It also helps with egg eaters if you are ever unlucky enough to have one of those.

That sounds easy enough to do the curtains! I may try adding my new boxes under my existing ones and see how that works. Thanks

 

[SallyinIndiana]

Ok, so a (short) chicken train is in place for Friday 11/15 in the afternoon (time still to be determined). I'll be going from Warren (Huntington county) to meet up with Jchny2000 in the Anderson area. If you need chickens delivered to the area or brought back up north, get with me to arrange it.

what a great idea and so generous too.


I'm considering moving around the brooders again. I still have chicks in my basement that I need to get out but I need to get the adult chickens into a new coop first. Of course we need to finish the new coop first. IT is so close but the little stuff is missing like a run for when I don't want to free range, a battery for the chicken door, a handle for the person door, and a way to open and close the venting flaps. Right now they stay closed until I can get a pulley system in place. The run will be the most time consuming and most likely the most money. I was not thinking of a second run but when DH changed the location on me there is no other option with me still wanting to keep my good chickens in the new coop. So I'm back to expanding the brooder area of the basement with boxes.

 

[CCCCCCCCHICKENS]

Thank goodness it's Friday! It's been a long week!!

Reposting: Any suggestions for keeping the babies from sleeping in the nest boxes? I don't really want poopy eggs!!

throw out of the nest every night, that about all you can do until they stop

 

[Kiniska]

^ Yep, unless you have another run without nest boxes.

 

[SallyinIndiana]

I just saw this, it looks like a nice deal for a small amount of chickens.
http://indianapolis.craigslist.org/grd/4096733333.html

 

[bradselig]

Well got the coop all cleaned out and ready for winter! Earlier in the day I went to pick up some eggs and went to rural king, family farm and home, and Big R. Picked up some leg bands from FF&H and noticed Big R now stocks valbazen and Rural King has the Rooster Booster dewormer! Now I just need to read up on both and see which I want to go with. I like that the rooster booster doesn't have a withdrawal period, but think the valbazen will be more effective.

 

[Mother2Hens]

Originally Posted by pipdzipdnreadytogo pipd~ I appreciate you taking the time to help, but the BYC site (both desktop and mobile) won't work with my iPad browser (Apple's Safari). When using my iMac, Safari works fine with BYC, but not on my iPad. If BYC had a responsive website, the site would respond to all browsers and all types of devices and brands. One reason (besides annoyance) that companies are switching to RWD is that it eliminates the need for an additional app to be made for mobile devices.

What bothers me more than my iPad browser issue is that a cell phone is the only way that some of our members can access BYC, and they have chronic problems trying to load photos, change avatars, and reply.

Smart companies know it's important for customers to have optimal viewing/interacting experiences.

Below: Although the screen shows all of the features like color, bold, emoticons, etc., they are converted to code. I underlined the info in red.

 

[SallyinIndiana]

what a pain. I use firefox on a laptop so the site works ok for me but I'm not so sure I would put up with code.