INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[Mother2Hens]

She looks sweet and appears to not mind her new head band. I should do that with my polish more often. She attacks my leg when I go in the pen, because she can't tell what it is. Maybe she knocked a few rocks lose, I have seen run into the wall before lol.

This reply insists on not including all of your quote and photos, but Olive is a beauty! Her face is precious! That would be frustrating and scary if you couldn't see well. I know there are dog breeds that can't see because of hair covering their eyes. I guess it has to be that way if you're showing them. She looks pretty cute with that head band-- you just need to add some bling to it--glue some sequins or rhinestones on! lol Are you showing her now?-- or just during warmer weather?

 

[Mother2Hens]

We are missing a rooster. He was out free ranging while i went to the store. DH was home but when I got back, the rooster was missing. No feathers, no real fight scene. This was a very large rooster so it is hard for me to think of a hawk taking him away, killing and eating sure but we can't find a body and we have not seen a hawk in a while. Our insurance lady came by to take pictures, I'm hoping she accidentally let him out of the back yard and he is just wandering the nearby fields. Maybe he'll come back soon before dark.

Hopefully he didn't attack the insurance lady the way my hens scare my gas & electric meter reader guy! Seriously, though, he doesn't sound like one who would be snatched away. He is probably just roaming. Are roosters ones who would be back to the coop in the evening to protect the hens or could they be distracted and end up spending the night in a tree? Hope he comes back soon!

 

[SallyinIndiana]

I'm thinking he might have wandered off the same way a tom cat would. he was not back tonight before dark.
We looked over the entire area he had been free ranging in our back yard. Not a single RIR feather to be found. It is hard for me to think of a non human predator that could manage getting a 9 pound rooster out of our fenced in yard without leaving a feather behind. Red tail hawk or eagle maybe but typically there is a feather or two left from hawks. Also with the rooster being so large I think he would be hard to carry off. Even the owl that got our other roosters did not take them away as they were too heavy at around 7 pounds.

The insurance lady says the only animal she saw on our property was a black cat. That would be hard to find feasible as we have enough chickens in our greenhouse coop, that during daylight I can always see several in the coop or their run. And there is no way to get pictures of every side of our house without seeing the chicken coops. UNLESS she was scared off my the missing free ranging rooster. But this rooster is a friendly rooster, the only thing scary about him is his rooster run when he comes for treats. It looked like a dinosour run.

 

[kabhyper1]

Well so far the girls have done okay in the house. I kept the room kinda dark today so they could adjust. This evening took the nesting boxes out, candled the eggs, got broody pooed on

while trimming Snows horribly long nails, made them hay nests for them, and they settled back in just fine. Snow is super attentive. Ashes is pretending to know what she is doing because she is "special". Completely inattentive to her eggs, and just wants to sit and grunt. Anywhere I move her she sits. I put her on the coffee table and she growled at me like she still had eggs under her. I have to put her on the nest. I put an egg in front of her and she just sat there. I did the same thing with Snow and she immediately tucks. So Ashes may end up just being a companion and Snow gets her eggs.

 

[Mother2Hens]

Even though it's still 11pm here, I'll post this at Eastern Time. I'm sure the thread is loaded with people checking it at midnight.

Haha
DH and I went to a party earlier and I am trying to watch those boring New Year's Eve TV shows with him, but I can hardly stand them, so I keep slipping off to visit my computer.

 

[Mother2Hens]

I'm thinking he might have wandered off the same way a tom cat would. he was not back tonight before dark.
We looked over the entire area he had been free ranging in our back yard. Not a single RIR feather to be found. It is hard for me to think of a non human predator that could manage getting a 9 pound rooster out of our fenced in yard without leaving a feather behind. Red tail hawk or eagle maybe but typically there is a feather or two left from hawks. Also with the rooster being so large I think he would be hard to carry off. Even the owl that got our other roosters did not take them away as they were too heavy at around 7 pounds.

The insurance lady says the only animal she saw on our property was a black cat. That would be hard to find feasible as we have enough chickens in our greenhouse coop, that during daylight I can always see several in the coop or their run. And there is no way to get pictures of every side of our house without seeing the chicken coops. UNLESS she was scared off my the missing free ranging rooster. But this rooster is a friendly rooster, the only thing scary about him is his rooster run when he comes for treats. It looked like a dinosour run.

SallyinIndiana ~ Considering my meter reader guy thought my RIR hen was a rooster, and I've seen her chase him down the hill twice, your insurance lady would probably freak if she saw your roo coming toward her. I imagine she would be running. That is pretty weird that she said she didn't see any chickens. Makes you wonder if she actually showed up-- or did you see her? Was the gate open after she left? He has a good chance of surviving since he's a big roo. He just wanted a New Year's Eve out!
kabhyper ~ Your broody Silkies are pretty funny. Maybe they need head bands like CCCHICKENS's Silkies so they can see what's going on! So you have to bathe them and trim their nails? Or maybe it's just because they're broody and are "letting themselves go." Ha

 

[CCCCCCCCHICKENS]

Happy New Years everyone!

 

[CCCCCCCCHICKENS]

SallyinIndiana ~ Considering my meter reader guy thought my RIR hen was a rooster, and I've seen her chase him down the hill twice, your insurance lady would probably freak if she saw your roo coming toward her. I imagine she would be running. That is pretty weird that she said she didn't see any chickens. Makes you wonder if she actually showed up-- or did you see her? Was the gate open after she left? He has a good chance of surviving since he's a big roo. He just wanted a New Year's Eve out!
kabhyper ~ Your broody Silkies are pretty funny. Maybe they need head bands like CCCHICKENS's Silkies so they can see what's going on! So you have to bathe them and trim their nails? Or maybe it's just because they're broody and are "letting themselves go." Ha

The silkie Olive is chisNchickens. I don't have any silkies, but I have a polish, that needs a head band ! She can be quite comical, with minor limitations to her seeing abilities lol. I had a bantam cochin that I frequently had to trim her nails. She had extremely long toe nails, and sometimes they made her feet sore, she was a big baby.

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Just saw this on the home page.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/845677/map-of-potential-chicken-sitters

I thought I'd post it here because (as a person who definitely needs willing chicken/dog sitters) I think it is a great idea!! and of course, I want Indiana to show everyone else how its done.

So, If you want to be a sitter, and maybe make some extra cash, pin away. If you need a sitter, save or subscribe to the thread.

This is great! Some of us can really use this link come summer.

Thanks for the Welcome. I'm still trying to figure out navigation and how to get to everything on this site. Glad to be here and hope to meet many more chicken lovers!!
Thanks Kelly for the invite

Hope everyone had a good holiday and happy new year to come haven't been on lately my appendix burst so been dealing with that but my ladies all seem to really love the weather for some strange reason. Not even the dogs want to go out but they can't wait to get out into it every day oh well and they are still laying consistently which has been great for all the cookies and sweets we've been making!! Hope this finds everyone doing well!

Just wanted to wish everyone a Happy New Year and everyone stays safe tonight. We have been working really hard to get our house to where we are finally able to move into it. It has been a very long process since my fiance has basically done everything his self with help occasionally from family members. But I am very happy to say that we are finally going to be able to move in today. My chickens will be very happy as well since they will have 2 acres to run around on instead of the 1/8 acre or whatever it is that we have now. I do have a question. My thought is to keep them in their coop for a couple of days, so they know it as home, before leaving them out to run around. Does that sound about right or should it be longer? There is no run yet. Thank you for any replies. And again I hope everyone has a Happy and Safe New Year.

I am soo happy to hear! Congrats, how exciting! Do keep them confined a few days, and if you do intend to free range, up to a week.
It helps to with hold feed from when you let them out until they need to go in. Decide on a key word, or sound to "call them"
We use a loud "chickies, chickies" and tap the spoon on the plastic bucket. They will learn it means FOOD and you can corral them anytime needed.
If they had already been free ranging it will be easier. Congrats!

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Thanks to everyone here on the board for making my 2013 a successful, enriching and fun first year as a backyard chicken-er!

Thank you for being part of it! And everyone else here, I am grateful to know every one of you.
Wishing everyone a safe and prosperous 2014!

Here Mother2Hens....how's this for a pretty face? She had a bath and her crest put up so of course I had to take some pics. This is Olive, my favorite. She is the sweetest girl ever, and took BV,BB, and CH Featherleg at her first show with some nice competition! As you can tell, she's my pride and joy.

Lovely girl! You can tell she is very sweet, and what a beauty!

We are missing a rooster. He was out free ranging while i went to the store. DH was home but when I got back, the rooster was missing. No feathers, no real fight scene. This was a very large rooster so it is hard for me to think of a hawk taking him away, killing and eating sure but we can't find a body and we have not seen a hawk in a while. Our insurance lady came by to take pictures, I'm hoping she accidentally let him out of the back yard and he is just wandering the nearby fields. Maybe he'll come back soon before dark.

I have been very impressed with my "mixed heritage" chickens I hatched. They may take a while to mature, but they are great layers and the cockerels are getting to be pretty big. I have 6 pullets ( 3 buff brahma x rhode island reds, 1 buff brahma x golden comet, 1 buff brahma x black sex link, and 1 buff brahma x easter egger. The easter egger lays a pretty blue egg and usually lays 5 or 6 a week, all the other would lay brown (so I don'tknow who is laying what) but the past week they have kicked it up a notch. yesterday 6 eggs from them. The cockerels are buff brahma x rhode island reds are going to be huge, they are still growing, they would make a good slow growing meat chicken.

I love the crosses too. They are usually also the most social, Having a hard time weeding any out, Usually seems to be my GLW roos that are mean!
I think Merlin (SLW) will change that for us. He is just the sweetest guy I have.

My barred rock pullet laid me an egg two days in a row but now it as been 3 days since she has laid an egg. This is normal for a beginning pullet, right? We have looked for a hidden nest and have not found one. The chickens loved it that Dh turned their litter for them though.

Yes, very normal for a new layer! Congrats.