INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[leslea]

Wh
What breed/breeds did you order? Oh and welcome, I'm a newbie too, only bn a crazy chicken lady since last May. I'm loving it though. Oh, and as a warning, BE VAYWEEE CARWEFULL. CHIGGINS IS ADDICTIN! Lol

I have dreamed of them every night since I hit the order button. LOL It's becoming an obsession. Only 111 days to do.

All bantams: 2 EE, 2 BR, 2 Silkies.

 

[CCCCCCCCHICKENS]

Okay, so I'm trying to get Exhibition/Show quality birds around Easter so I can show them in 4-H this year. I'm looking for Phoenixes, Silkies, Belgium D' Uccles. I've heard that Hatcheries aren't the best for good Exhibition/Show/Fair birds but have any of you one here had any different experiences? Have you gotten good, pure breeds from Hatcheries? Or if not are there any reputable breeders on here that would sell some eggs or chicks?

I know there are multiple members who breed silkies, not sure about the others. Check the members list. if you are wanting SQ birds (which you said you are) NEVER buy them from a hatchery expecting good quality birds, maybe if you bought 100 you could find 1-3 good birds (pushing it). Hatchery birds are good for 3 things, 1. pets, 2. eggs, 3. meat. Just my 2 cents.

 

[Mother2Hens]

Has anyone seen this picture of a car port coop? How cool is that!?!? I would never have to shovel the run again!!! Putting this idea away for the future....Although I don't think car ports are all that cheap.

I wonder if the make the roof in clear-- or at least partially clear would be nice to allow some natural light in.

Hey I see Old Rooster lurking! How have you been doing?

 

[Leahs Mom]

Here is a silly question perhaps y'all can answer for me...is it better to have a detached run that I can move around the yard, or to figure out how to attach it stationary to the coop? I've been thinking stationary because I have a small fenced yard. We have 3 acres altogether but only about 1/3 acre is fenced, and that's where I plan on letting the chickens roam. We already have trouble with grass because we live in the woods, so I'm not worried about burning up a nice lawn. I feel like we should cut a hole in the side of the coop even though it's on a hill, and just make stationary run there,but if there's some advantage to a portable run, I'm open-minded about that.

Thanks for the warm welcome!!!

I'm way behind and folks have probably already answered you on this but thought I'd give an opinion.

First, no question is silly! Always feel free to ask whatever might be helpful to hear from others.
I have a similar situation - a partially fenced property (12 acres with about 4 acres fenced) and my chicken house is within that fencing. I have an attached run for several reasons.

-One of the main ones is that if there is a time that I need to keep them confined to a smaller pen they can still go out the pop door and be safe in the enclosed pen. While they're confined, they have access to the hen shed where they can go for shelter (both during winter or summer) and access their nest boxes at all times.

When things are optimal for them to range, I just open the gate on the pen/run. They come and go from that area all day and access their nest boxes, food, etc. But it's really nice to be able to close that gate and keep them in if needed.

**********************************************************************************************

On another note - if your pen/run is stationary, it will quickly become denuded of all grass.

I have posted about this before so those of you that have hung around for a long time are getting re-runs. But... I often see chicken yards totally denuded of any vegetation with totally impacted earth. The poo can't go anywhere in that kind of condition and it's very unhealthy. Then when it rains or snow melts, it becomes an impacted mud bog. This is VERY UNHEALTHY for the birds and the ground.

So...when the vegetation (grass) began to be depleted from my pen area, I began to do a deep litter in the run. Completely solves all those problems. It provides a HEALTHY substrate for your birds, creates healthy soil beneath that encourages insects to inhabit that the birds can eat, and totally eliminates the mud/slime problem.


We had some trees cut down and I had the crew dump the wood chips in a big pile. After it sat there for awhile, I discovered that it was full of red worms, so I put my electro net over there where they could dig through some of it and BOY DID THEY "GO TO TOWN" on that pile!!!!

Then...I began to move some of those chips, wheelbarrow full by wheelbarrow full, over to the dog kennel run. I've continued to move them over time working on getting it really deep in there in addition to whatever - including putting out the deep litter from inside when I clean out the hen house. My goal is to build a really deep base in that kennel so that they have a "winter area" that they can still dig down and find live bugs in there.

NOW THE GOOD THING...
Many tree services will leave wood chips for you free when they're working in your area. You can call the local tree services and see what they say. Many don't like to haul them back and dispose of them and they'd love to drop off a load for you.

I do let them sit in the pile to "cure" for a couple months before I use them. When I see worms inhabiting the pile I know they're good to go. That may not be totally necessary, just what I do. And I have so many piles now waiting for use that they're all okay.

Then, if you want...in the spring you can dig out some of the broken-down stuff under and put it in the garden. Or just leave it there to continue to do it's work

You can see the deep litter wood chips in the run in this photo. When the snow melts - or it rains - it just soaks right down into the ground. No puddling or mud to deal with.

 

[Mother2Hens]

perhaps the rir is very low on calsium and is dar behind on catching up or perhaps her "woman parts" are just messed up somehow.

oldrooster ~ Wouldn't you know, right as I posted that you were lurking, I saw that you posted. Welcome back!
I hope that her woman parts aren't messed up because I just had my BJG put to sleep last week because of Ovarian Cancer. I'm not positive that my RIR laid it, so I'll have to try to pay attention!

Hope your chickens have fared well during the cold winter!

 

[goatluver20]

Guess I like orpingtons more than I thought. I have a buff orpington already (she's not super friendly but she's good enough) but now I want a lavender orpington, jubilee orpington, and frizzle buff orpington.

 

[leslea]

I'm way behind and folks have probably already answered you on this but thought I'd give an opinion.

First, no question is silly! Always feel free to ask whatever might be helpful to hear from others.
I have a similar situation - a partially fenced property (12 acres with about 4 acres fenced) and my chicken house is within that fencing. I have an attached run for several reasons.

-One of the main ones is that if there is a time that I need to keep them confined to a smaller pen they can still go out the pop door and be safe in the enclosed pen. While they're confined, they have access to the hen shed where they can go for shelter (both during winter or summer) and access their nest boxes at all times.

When things are optimal for them to range, I just open the gate on the pen/run. They come and go from that area all day and access their nest boxes, food, etc. But it's really nice to be able to close that gate and keep them in if needed.

**********************************************************************************************

On another note - if your pen/run is stationary, it will quickly become denuded of all grass.

I have posted about this before so those of you that have hung around for a long time are getting re-runs. But... I often see chicken yards totally denuded of any vegetation with totally impacted earth. The poo can't go anywhere in that kind of condition and it's very unhealthy. Then when it rains or snow melts, it becomes an impacted mud bog. This is VERY UNHEALTHY for the birds and the ground.

So...when the vegetation (grass) began to be depleted from my pen area, I began to do a deep litter in the run. Completely solves all those problems. It provides a HEALTHY substrate for your birds, creates healthy soil beneath that encourages insects to inhabit that the birds can eat, and totally eliminates the mud/slime problem.


We had some trees cut down and I had the crew dump the wood chips in a big pile. After it sat there for awhile, I discovered that it was full of red worms, so I put my electro net over there where they could dig through some of it and BOY DID THEY "GO TO TOWN" on that pile!!!!

Then...I began to move some of those chips, wheelbarrow full by wheelbarrow full, over to the dog kennel run. I've continued to move them over time working on getting it really deep in there in addition to whatever - including putting out the deep litter from inside when I clean out the hen house. My goal is to build a really deep base in that kennel so that they have a "winter area" that they can still dig down and find live bugs in there.

NOW THE GOOD THING...
Many tree services will leave wood chips for you free when they're working in your area. You can call the local tree services and see what they say. Many don't like to haul them back and dispose of them and they'd love to drop off a load for you.

I do let them sit in the pile to "cure" for a couple months before I use them. When I see worms inhabiting the pile I know they're good to go. That may not be totally necessary, just what I do. And I have so many piles now waiting for use that they're all okay.

Then, if you want...in the spring you can dig out some of the broken-down stuff under and put it in the garden. Or just leave it there to continue to do it's work

You can see the deep litter wood chips in the run in this photo. When the snow melts - or it rains - it just soaks right down into the ground. No puddling or mud to deal with.

Oh, this is a wonderful idea. We might even have a tree taken down this spring. Our entire property is forested except for the yard, so we have so many "wood chips" that I just sweep off the porch. Of course it would take awhile to accumulate this many, but what a great place to toss 'em.

I've read about DLM, but only in terms of inside the coop. When you do it in the run, do you use the DE, as well? Just stir it up every so often?

Here's what I'm working with.

Definitely going to paint the coop, and thinking of putting in a little door and the run on this side:



See how the yard isn't so hot? Don't really care about losing the grass. Thinking if I put some tiered garden beds around the perimeter of the run, it might help slow the erosion going on back there.

Oh, will chickens eat walnuts? Because the neighbor's tree is a constant shower of them on top of the coop, in the fall!

Closer view:

Definitely need a window box, but not sure how that will work out if it's enclosed in the run!



How it fits with the rest of the yard:



You can kind of see how spotty the "grass" is. I think it's all weeds.

Gosh, I had another question but the kids are distracting me.

Oh! This might sound silly, but do wild birds eat chicken feed? Do chickens eat wild bird seed? I'm thinking "yes" and "yes" but I didn't see any discussion of it anywhere.

We have a lot of friendly birds in our yard. I snapped this today while writing:



She's about 8-11 oz, so probably about half the size my EEs will be.

 

[leslea]

Guess I like orpingtons more than I thought. I have a buff orpington already (she's not super friendly but she's good enough) but now I want a lavender orpington, jubilee orpington, and frizzle buff orpington.

I dreamed about a frizzle last night. *sigh*

People rave about their orpingtons! What makes them special?

 

[leslea]

I wonder if the make the roof in clear-- or at least partially clear would be nice to allow some natural light in.

I saw this on FB today. Somebody tagged me! I think my reputation is being ruined by my ChickINsanity!

 

[Leahs Mom]

Ok, so my leg bands are taking for ever to arrive. I bought them a week ago and they finally posted a tracking number last night and it still doesn't look like it's actually been shipped yet. So I'm on the hunt for the small 4" zip ties. Anyone have luck finding various colored ones locally? I'm going to try the dollar stores tomorrow. I know lowes doesn't have them, well scratch that. Now that I think of it we may. I don't think they are permanent items though and if we already sold out of them, then that's it.

So let me know if anyone has found them locally and what stores.

Got mine at tractor supply. They have the 4" ones in various colors. Call ahead; not all TSC have a good supply.