INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[HouseKat]

And here he is with the ladies free-ranging in our yard:

 

[Mother2Hens]

Thoughts and prayers from Oklahoma for those with injuries, damage and loss.

NanaKat ~ Thank you for your kind thoughts for the Indiana storm victims. Your beautiful state of Oklahoma sure has more than its share of storms. We appreciate your concern.

Originally Posted by racinchickins
Just to let everyone know. I got in touch with Old Salt via text message, and he said everything is ok.

racinchickins ~ Thanks for letting us know. Hope Weed Wacker Jimmy or Willie or whatever that bird's name is made it through the storm.

minmin1258 ~ That was so nice of you to check in with our Indiana group following the terrible storms on Sunday. One of our members, Old Salt, who was mentioned in the last post lives in Lebanon and we were worried that he hadn't checked in. Luckily, another member reached him. Glad to hear that you were safe in West Virginia! Thanks for thinking of us.

 

[hogster160]

So glad to hear everyone fared well with the nasty storms. All is well here. We had 80 mph winds, so we had to redo the tarp on the turkey hoop coop. It flew off. Turkey Tom decided he wanted to mate, she said no...he said yes. He stepped on her wrong and slipped and ripped her open. Then she was really mad, and so was I. They are separated now for a while. She stopped bleeding last night an it looks good today.

Then tonight my dogs were going crazy outside again tonight. Well they got a possum. Hubby had to go outside and kill it. So my girls save the day again. It was close to getting in the turkeys run. Both turkeys were awake and alert so it must have been making a racket. Ugh between weather and animals, I'm ready for this week to be over, and it's just Monday.

 

[Mother2Hens]

Originally Posted by CCCCCCCCHICKENS
I picked up a paper at the central indiana poultry show I forgot to tell you guys about. It is actually a state 4-H poultry workshop.
Workshop Topics
-Raising Broilers and Layers for the Commercial classes (tips on raising, feeding and selecting broilers, pullets and layers)
-Selecting Exhibition Poultry (what to look for in various breeds and varieties of exhibition chickens)
-Show Superintendent Roundtable (what works and what doesn’t, sharing past experiences)
-Showmanship Clinic (learn how to be successful competing in showmanship classes)

CCCHICKENS ~
I can’t relate to those classes. I would go if they had some workshop topics like:
• Teaching Your Flock the Art of Sharing
• Increasing Your Chicken’s Intellectual Performance
• Raising Empathetic Chickens
• Your RIR Can Learn to Play the Piano

TOO FAST posted: Been busy lately and I’m not gonna check on the 658 posts I’m behind on lol. Hope everyone survived the storms ok yesterday. Went to lock up the chickens tonight, and the wind had shut the door for the run. Felt pretty bad for them, a couple were on the run’s roof, 3 were crowding on a post right outside the run door, 2 were on a chair arm rest. My son uses the chair to stand on to gather eggs. We are STILL getting 35 eggs/week from our 7 girls, will they ever let up before winter lol.

TOO FAST ~ Good to hear from you, stranger! I always keep a large stone between the door and the coop just in case. I’m too afraid that a chicken will be smashed if the door slams shut and I would never get over the guilt! Btw, you are so lucky to have eggs. Seems like most of us have molters or hens who are taking a fall break.

bradselig posted: Merry Christmas to me! Just ordered a dozen Tolbunt polish eggs. Better be looking for a backup if power goes out again with these guys cooking!
bradselig ~ UmmHmm -- I believe you were supposed to order bantam Cochin eggs, 2 girls, one lavender, one blue, one frizzle, one regular.

Ollie Pollie ~ Nice to see your post! I remember when you posted the photo of a beautiful young girl holding a chicken. It looked like a magazine cover. As far a bantam Cochins, bradselig just needs his arm twisted a little more!
House Kat ~ What a handsome roo and pretty flock! It looks like you have a nice range of coloring in your EEs. So you decided to keep one roo then? How is it going with the neighbors as far as his crowing?
hogster ~ My gosh, if it’s not one thing, it’s another! Poor turkey hen! Do you spray a turkey injury with Blue Kote or something like that? How did your dogs do during the storms? Our old beagle-mix, Ruby, used to get really nervous during storms. She used to bark at a regular possum visitor, too. It was before we had chickens, so we didn’t mind. The possum would sit on the deck railing about two feet away from our old Siamese cat, Bostwick. They were similar colors, and just hung out together. One night I was so upset because I thought Ruby had killed the possum, so I brought Ruby in and looked out, and the possum was gone. Playing possum worked.
(A few years ago, Ruby and Bostwick both had to be put to sleep in their old age. They had very good, long lives!)

 

[Too Fast]

^^^Mother, that's good advice about the rock for the run door. I have one out in that area anyway, may as well make it useful.




Claiming post #17285.

 

[gunchief25]

Morning all Cockadoodledooooooo!!!

 

[hogster160]

^^^Mother, that's good advice about the rock for the run door. I have one out in that area anyway, may as well make it useful.




Claiming post #17285.

I have a piece of 2x4 that I use as a door jam to keep both doors open so it doesn't blow shut. The winds would have certainly slammed shut and locked the chickens out. Most were hiding under the coop, but some had gone in. I get 2 eggs out of 14 layers, I wish mine still laid 35 a week. Most are molting atm and one still acts broody with her chicks who are almost 13 weeks old. She is also molting atm. Weird lol Mostly I think its molting with her. She went back to the roost with the rest of the flock about 3 weeks ago, but don't go near her babies lol she will let you know. A week later the babies started roosting with her. They have taken over the north western corner of the coop lol.

 

[CRSelvey]

Originally Posted by CCCCCCCCHICKENS
I picked up a paper at the central indiana poultry show I forgot to tell you guys about. It is actually a state 4-H poultry workshop.
Workshop Topics
-Raising Broilers and Layers for the Commercial classes (tips on raising, feeding and selecting broilers, pullets and layers)
-Selecting Exhibition Poultry (what to look for in various breeds and varieties of exhibition chickens)
-Show Superintendent Roundtable (what works and what doesn’t, sharing past experiences)
-Showmanship Clinic (learn how to be successful competing in showmanship classes)

CCCHICKENS ~
I can’t relate to those classes. I would go if they had some workshop topics like:
• Teaching Your Flock the Art of Sharing
• Increasing Your Chicken’s Intellectual Performance
• Raising Empathetic Chickens
• Your RIR Can Learn to Play the Piano

TOO FAST posted: Been busy lately and I’m not gonna check on the 658 posts I’m behind on lol. Hope everyone survived the storms ok yesterday. Went to lock up the chickens tonight, and the wind had shut the door for the run. Felt pretty bad for them, a couple were on the run’s roof, 3 were crowding on a post right outside the run door, 2 were on a chair arm rest. My son uses the chair to stand on to gather eggs. We are STILL getting 35 eggs/week from our 7 girls, will they ever let up before winter lol.

TOO FAST ~ Good to hear from you, stranger! I always keep a large stone between the door and the coop just in case. I’m too afraid that a chicken will be smashed if the door slams shut and I would never get over the guilt! Btw, you are so lucky to have eggs. Seems like most of us have molters or hens who are taking a fall break.

bradselig posted: Merry Christmas to me! Just ordered a dozen Tolbunt polish eggs. Better be looking for a backup if power goes out again with these guys cooking!
bradselig ~ UmmHmm -- I believe you were supposed to order bantam Cochin eggs, 2 girls, one lavender, one blue, one frizzle, one regular.

Mother2Hens- Your classes are cracking me up! Maybe you could do some obstacle course training to keep them in shape during the winter, or obedience classes so they don't poo in unwanted places. Also, the rock thing is a good idea. Where were you when I was trying to keep my doors open and/or shut? I went with hook and eye latches. They are all over the coop, Rocks could be prettier and more economical.

Bradselig- You are making those TP's grow on me and now I want a frizzle something. UGH, its no wonder my dh thinks you guys are a bad influence, lol.


Also, on the topic of heat lamps, I was reading this article yesterday posted on The Chicken Fountain's FB page. http://www.seacoastonline.com/articles/20130424-NEWS-304240373

I am determined not to use them in the coop unless we have something extraordinary happen, but I'd still hate to see this happen to anyone else. This is the advice the Chicken Fountain guy gave about the lamps:
Ok one more post about heat lamps... If you are going to use them, and we don't recommend that you do, make sure you use the correct kind. There are several low cost heat lamps fixtures out there that use a plastic socket. The plastic socket can melt or become brittle and break under the high heat of an infrared heat bulb. The bulb can fall out and break or worst yet stare a fire. Yesterday I took some temperature readings at the base of the bulb and the reading was 550.7 degrees, more then sufficient to melt a plastic fixture.
If you are going to use a heat lamp make sure the fixture you use has a ceramic socket designed for the high temperatures. Below is an example of a fixture with a ceramic base socket......

There is a picture on their FB page if you are interested.

 

[OlliePollie]

Awww thank you!! I'm pretty partial to that picture myself. I try to keep up with this thread but I don't post much. My daughter is so excited to get new 4-H chickens for next year. This will be her first year as a "real" 4-Her (she was a mini before).

 

[danand]

Gunchief- doodledoo to you too!!

CRS-good info. Who would think it would get that hot! Makes sense why it could start fires.