INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[Chaneys Ranch]

Really busy today. Added lots of bedding, this next week is below zero again almost every night.
Need to scrape out the waterfowl houses, but its all frozen! I feel icky for them if I can't scrape out the bedding once a week.
Found several pekin eggs frozen in a new nest. Moved my ceramic eggs there and took them for the piggies!
Usually they all lay at the back of the big trailer, but this one was at the front.
Several water changes. Hold my breath when I go out, am so worried for all the birds. Giving an extra treat of scratch mixed with game bird feed and live mealies.
Anything I can do to boost proteins and keep them warm, they just go crazy on it! Put hay down around all the feeders, waterers in the waterfowl coop.
Looked over all the geese and ducks, feet are all looking good so far. One Chinese gosling is a little underweight for my liking, so I gave him straight gamebird food tonight.
I will bring him and his hatchmate in the porch when we get the negative teen temps. with the scovies also. No more late summer hatches on geese!
They still "weewee" call like a gosling, and I am so worried for them.
Chickens, turkey etc REFUSE to leave the coops. so they did get feed and water indoors.
Can't say i blame them!
off to catch up.. Hope everyone is well!

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Quote: Warm milk works wonders. hope everything's ok!
I fight with sleeping a lot, mind wanders.. so much to do, "oh crap i needed to call them"..
It can wait, dont sweat the small stuff. Rest well.

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Here is an updated picture of the little white and grey chipmunk striped chick I hatched out several weeks ago. I'm loving the colors on it and hoping it turns out a silver partridge!
Right after hatch


And this evening

Adorable

Quote: I had them too. All the allergy tests and the shots, about 3 years, 3x a week.
I can eat crab, lobster, own a cat, and enjoy spring! Never had so many pin pricks in my life.
It was worth it, spring and flowers dont phase me a bit now.

Quote: Muahahahaha secret agent egg man! I plan to add BR for breeders and WL hens for layers.
If I see em, the trough is getting emptied out

Seriously, I want to add a white layer, and am very pleased with my BR hen.
White leghorn and barred rock are going to be added this year.

 

[Mother2Hens]

Do you still get allergy shots? I get allergy shots every 3 weeks. They say they will not go away (sometimes the allergies disappear), so pretty much I will be getting them for the rest of my life. Mine aren't just for cats though, lots more, just too much to list! They have made my life so much better, I can tell when I need one, sometimes spot on. The only bad part was getting tested for them!

CCCHICKENS ~ I don't still get allergy shots because I didn't feel like they helped-- and I had tried them off and on for long periods of time. Apparently, they work for some more than others. They've helped my son who is able to have the serum mailed to him, so he can give himself the injections. Just going to the doc's office and having to wait afterwards for 20 mins. was such a hassle. I've found (for an unknown reason) that my allergies have fluctuated since I was young. I'd go through several years of really bad allergies and then they'd improve for several years. I've had that happen with headaches and migraine headaches since I was young, too. Some years are way worse than others.

 

[Mother2Hens]

And speaking of work, M2H, I noticed you said you did freelance work. Writing? I was a freelance journalist for years before I started publishing fiction. Please tell me you write about chickens!

leslea ~ Yes, I write about chickens every night on the thread! lol I'm a freelance graphic designer, but I've always written advertising copy, marketing materials, etc. I actually have a degree in Fine Art from IU, but after I graduated, I completed a "commercial art" (now called graphic design) apprenticeship with my dad who was the VP of design for an advertising agency and printing company. I learned the old-fashioned way-- on the drawing board until later when Apple computers became the standard tool. Most of my experience has been in healthcare working at two hospitals in their marketing depts., but I've had other experiences like working for a small agency and for a university. It's nice now for me to work part-time from home for a few choice clients so that I have time to spend with my chickens since my three kids have flown the coop.
So, tell us about your fiction writing business! I think we could all use an escape by reading fiction-- we've had too much reality this winter!

 

[chick rookie]

Good to know! On that note though... How did your dogs get past them????

I'm hoping the bit of engineering we did while installing them will help... You will occasionally hear me screaming at the eye hook thingys.

not real sure but it wasn't luck cause they did it 3 or 4 times before I changed the locks, they don't hurt the chickens they just want the grain... ?? but my dogs were raised with them, I have 2 silkie chicks in the front room now, they like to watch them playing and one chick is brave enough last night that it climbed on my LGD's nose!!!

I tried to get a pic of it but I missed it

waited for an hour and didn't happen again. Would have been a great shot!!!!
I do have those latches on my boxes (when I close them don't do that much ) but have a solid floor so I do it only to keep hens out on cleaning day... hard to clean a box out with a hen fighting you to get in her favorite box... lol

 

[chick rookie]

wheezy ~ That does seem early. Maybe it's a new strategy to market them for Valentine's Day in addition to Easter! I think that our "Chick Days" sales at RK begin in early March.
House Kat ~ No problem unless we never see warm weather again! It's 7 degrees now, but I suppose we're lucky compared to our Indiana members north of us.

Originally Posted by HouseKat I am also allergic to pollen and cat dander. My cat, Moggie, was 10 the first time an allergy doctor told me, "Get rid of that cat!" Five years later I got a new allergy doc who said the same thing. "She's 15," I replied, "She can't be around much longer." Well, she lived to be 20!

House Kat ~ What a story about your cat! Yes, those allergy docs tell you to get rid of your animals like it's nothing. No, can't do that.
Then they tell you to not hang clothes on the line and to shower/change clothes if you've been outside. I can do that, especially when I can see that the deck is coated with yellow pollen.

House Kat ~ Btw, did your new shed/coop get installed? (I hope!)
chick rookie ~ You're having a rough time trying to care for your injured DH as well as all of your chickens in this horrible weather. I think everyone on this thread has gone through chicken deaths and feelings of helplessness-- some have had much worse times than others. I've felt "over my head" many times since I've had chickens. Just as I was feeling confident about looking over my chickens for any signs of problems, then I realized that I missed the fact that my Jersey had a large tumor growing-- I just thought she was a big, fat Jersey Giant! I felt like I let her down although she would've have ended up being put to sleep at the vet's anyway. I know that we all shouldn't be so hard on ourselves. At least we're all here to learn and improve.

hogster ~ That's terrible about your husband's thumb accident! Hand surgeons are more common now and can do amazing things-- like re-attach an entire hand! That's good that your DH has been getting physical therapy and follow-up care. Hope your mom is doing okay since you said you're in Michigan.

Thanks for the words of kindness, I'm just glad I found this site and all of you when I did. I would be pulling my hair out by now

. I know I have learned allot, in just a few mths... and am now looking in to fermenting feed and fodder, sorry if I miss-spelled that.

 

[chick rookie]

leslea ~ Yes, I write about chickens every night on the thread! lol I'm a freelance graphic designer, but I've always written advertising copy, marketing materials, etc. I actually have a degree in Fine Art from IU, but after I graduated, I completed a "commercial art" (now called graphic design) apprenticeship with my dad who was the VP of design for an advertising agency and printing company. I learned the old-fashioned way-- on the drawing board until later when Apple computers became the standard tool. Most of my experience has been in healthcare working at two hospitals in their marketing depts., but I've had other experiences like working for a small agency and for a university. It's nice now for me to work part-time from home for a few choice clients so that I have time to spend with my chickens since my three kids have flown the coop.
So, tell us about your fiction writing business! I think we could all use an escape by reading fiction-- we've had too much reality this winter!

yes I tried to do a multi quote ... didn't work for some reason, I love your hen, the one on top. So many different chickens I didn't know about or ever even heard of, I really need to hit the lottery!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[gunchief25]

Morning all Cockadoodledoooooooo!!!

 

[Too Fast]

I was at Martinsville Rural King today picking up some chicken feed and saw a paper posted in the feed section. Said they would be getting their first batch of chicks for Valentines Day. Seems a lot earlier than most years, I thought they usually got chicks in April?

I think it said the first batch would be RIR, BR, ISA brown and EE pullets. It also mentioned something about special orders for rare breeds. (Dont know what those breeds are)

Just in case anyone is waiting on chicks thought I'd pass this along.

Late February was when the farm stores got chicks around here last year. I thought it was early.

The TSC got their first batch of chicks the last week of Feb in 2013. Haven't heard when this year, IDK if we need any more yet. Must stay away........

yes I tried to do a multi quote ... didn't work for some reason, I love your hen, the one on top. So many different chickens I didn't know about or ever even heard of, I really need to hit the lottery!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Multi quote: For the first person, click on the multi button, and add any others the same way. For the last quote, click on quote and they will all be in the reply box.