INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[Kiniska]

[COLOR=006400]bradselig ~[/COLOR] [COLOR=8B4513]I clicked to enlarge the photo, so I was going to ask what that large black furry object was in the background, but I read the rest of the posts and discovered it's your Bouvier herding dog. She appears to be working hard. [/COLOR]
[rule]

M2H, I am 90% sure the splash is female. The black/blue one, hard to tell with that lighting, I still think is female. My boys did not start getting tail feathers until they were 10-12 weeks. These birds develops super slow, especially roos. Keep those fingers crossed I am right. Aldo the darker one isn't moving as up right as my roos have in the past. Still, they are young and can surprise you.

 

[chick rookie]

RoosterRod ~ Welcome to the Indiana Thread! Please see page 2151 at the bottom with the heading: "Do you want to be listed . . ." for more info about our friendly Indiana group!

Sorry to hear that so many of you have colds, etc. --and that Crazed Chicken has the plague --lol. Next week will be better!!

chick rookie ~ Are you just talking about the porch for your coop? That sounds really nice with clear panels that slide on tracks! Last fall, my DH and I put down square pavers in front of the chicken coop to make a little patio, which I named "The Chicken Pavillion," which sounds much fancier than it is. Your plans sound like yours will be a very nice pavilion!
What terrible injuries your DH is dealing with. My gosh! So, is his surgery tomorrow the 12th? Best of luck to both of you!

yep I guess it would be a porch... in the winter it would be a covered porch. This winter gave me the ideal, it's been so hard on my flock, lost 5 this winter and 1 in the house for unknown problems. Don't have a clue what is going on with her.
getting ready to go to the hospital and have DH's surgery on his knee. Will be glad when this is all over with and things can go back to normal. I'm wore out now and I got a feeling after today It will be really bad. Men are such babies when sick or hurt. ( sorry to the men in the group ) but I love him and he would wait on me hand and foot too if needed. Hope that day never comes.
Good day to all, I'm thinking about taking my lap top to have something to do while he is in surgery, pretty sure they have wi-fi.

 

[browncow15]

I have baseboard heat. So it can get pretty dusty in the house with the brooders. With me being a cheap ....umm.... Tight wad, I use a 20" box fan with a 20x20 pleated fur acne filter taped to the back of it. It keeps air circulated and collects dust as it pulls air. I'd guess it's not nearly as good as an air purifier, but definitely helps control the dust.

Lol! When we lived in the dorms the university was building a dining hall right next door. DHs friends did that with fans to keep the construction dust out.

 

[browncow15]

SPRING IS COMING!!! We got 15 eggs yesterday!! AND the 10 day forecast is predicting highs in the upper 50s by the end if next week!

 

[Mother2Hens]

I can't see doing all of the chicken stuff for 3 chickens. Buying food would be cheaper but to get 2 eggs a day or a dozen a week just would not be worth it to us. Then again we have a larger family and eat a lot of eggs and products containing eggs like cookies. But so much of the chicken work is the same for 3 chickens or 15 chickens. Daily feeding, daily water, the coop needs to be bigger but the bedding still gets dealt with on the same time line. Deep Litter is my recommendation and those cute little prefab coops have trouble with deep litter.


Set up a chicken run where you want the beds to be and the grass magically goes away. Typically it takes less than 10 days in a tight run for the grass to go away in the fall. I have found it best to do it in the fall then cover with deep litter bedding. That said we are not gardening this year, so I'm hoping the grass seed I planted in the back yard during a snow storm grows back over what the chickens turned up last summer and fall.

As for the poisons, we use seven spray to help with bugs BUT nothing in the house other than some mild cleaners. Cat food may not be the best for toddlers but at least it does not land them in the ER. I recommend Barn cats over mouse poison traps. We only have a few flip traps too as fingers get broken really easy when children are young.
I have thought of trying to come up with a way to use the mouse that has eaten poison to keep predators numbers low. I haven't thought of anything that my chickens would not try to get at the poisoned mouse.

My RIR, Nene, could plow a field in an afternoon! She does everything at super-hyper speed.
As toddlers, all of my kids ate cat food at one time or another!

The problem with hoping that a poisoned mouse would poison an owl or coyote, etc. is that regular use of rodenticides (as well as pesticides, herbicides, etc.) alter the food chain by wiping out too many predators, which increases populations of pests. Upsetting the natural wildlife food chain makes situations worse. For example, owls kill rodents, which reproduce much faster than owls. If we eliminate natural rodent control, rodents will repopulate at even a faster rate. In addition, other consequences occur, such as when a dog eats an owl carcass and dies a slow, painful death.

I believe CCCHICKENS mentioned using electrocuting rat traps, which are actually humane. Another alternative to poison is the old-fashioned snap-trap.

Anyway, I posted the info about toxins and their wide-ranging effects on soil, water, humans, and wildlife as "public service announcement" lol.
And, the spring season is right around the corner, which is a good time to consider the consequences of any product that ends with "icide."

 

[CCCCCCCCHICKENS]

[COLOR=8B4513]My RIR, Nene, could plow a field in an afternoon! She does everything at super-hyper speed.[/COLOR]
[COLOR=8B4513]As toddlers, all of my kids ate cat food at one time or another! [/COLOR]

[COLOR=8B4513]The problem with hoping that a poisoned mouse would poison an owl or coyote, etc. is that regular use of rodenticides (as well as pesticides, herbicides, etc.) alter the food chain by[/COLOR] [COLOR=A52A2A]wiping out too many predators, which increases populations of pests[/COLOR][COLOR=8B4513]. Upsetting the natural wildlife food chain makes situations worse. For example, owls kill rodents, which reproduce much faster than owls. If we eliminate natural rodent control, rodents will repopulate at even a faster rate. In addition, other consequences occur, such as when a dog eats an owl carcass and dies a slow, painful death. [/COLOR]

[COLOR=8B4513]I believe CCCHICKENS mentioned using electrocuting rat traps, which are actually humane. Another alternative to poison is the old-fashioned snap-trap.[/COLOR]

[COLOR=8B4513]Anyway, I posted the info about toxins and their wide-ranging effects on soil, water, humans, and wildlife as "public service announcement" lol.[/COLOR]
[COLOR=8B4513]And, the spring season is right around the corner, which is a good time to consider the consequences of any product that ends with "icide."[/COLOR]

No, I didn't. I think Leah's mom did. I mentioned glue traps

 

[Mother2Hens]

yep I guess it would be a porch... in the winter it would be a covered porch. This winter gave me the ideal, it's been so hard on my flock, lost 5 this winter and 1 in the house for unknown problems. Don't have a clue what is going on with her.
getting ready to go to the hospital and have DH's surgery on his knee. Will be glad when this is all over with and things can go back to normal. I'm wore out now and I got a feeling after today It will be really bad. Men are such babies when sick or hurt. ( sorry to the men in the group ) but I love him and he would wait on me hand and foot too if needed. Hope that day never comes.
Good day to all, I'm thinking about taking my lap top to have something to do while he is in surgery, pretty sure they have wi-fi.

M2H, I am 90% sure the splash is female. The black/blue one, hard to tell with that lighting, I still think is female. My boys did not start getting tail feathers until they were 10-12 weeks. These birds develops super slow, especially roos. Keep those fingers crossed I am right. Aldo the darker one isn't moving as up right as my roos have in the past. Still, they are young and can surprise you.

Kiniska ~ Yes, I took that video at night, so next time I'll do that during the day when it's sunny. I'm going to go buy some live mealworms today to try to convince all the chicks that I'm not a monster. I have been slaving away taking care of them, but they all are skittish. They have improved some, though.

I like minmin's twin bed sized brooder! My chicks are already kind of outgrowing the large dog kennel, but I cover the bedroom floor with paper towels and let them out to "fly" around or take a dust bath. They are all so pretty and entertaining!

 

[Mother2Hens]

No, I didn't. I think Leah's mom did. I mentioned glue traps

Glue traps were also mentioned as a good alternative to poison as long as they're watched and disposed of as needed.

 

[ChickCrazed]

My RIR, Nene, could plow a field in an afternoon! She does everything at super-hyper speed.
As toddlers, all of my kids ate cat food at one time or another!

The problem with hoping that a poisoned mouse would poison an owl or coyote, etc. is that regular use of rodenticides (as well as pesticides, herbicides, etc.) alter the food chain by wiping out too many predators, which increases populations of pests. Upsetting the natural wildlife food chain makes situations worse. For example, owls kill rodents, which reproduce much faster than owls. If we eliminate natural rodent control, rodents will repopulate at even a faster rate. In addition, other consequences occur, such as when a dog eats an owl carcass and dies a slow, painful death.

I believe CCCHICKENS mentioned using electrocuting rat traps, which are actually humane. Another alternative to poison is the old-fashioned snap-trap.

Anyway, I posted the info about toxins and their wide-ranging effects on soil, water, humans, and wildlife as "public service announcement" lol.
And, the spring season is right around the corner, which is a good time to consider the consequences of any product that ends with "icide."

I keep hoping my chickens will get the memo that they are carnivorous raptors and help me out with my mouse overpopulation....or my sparrow issue....I seriously can't get the little feathered idiots to even eat meat treats. They kind of picked at the bbq ribs I gave them, but are seriously not impressed with meat in general. Really the only treats they have gone crazy for have been slices of home made bread. They are carb fiends...maybe if I make the mice into pigs in blankets as a gateway food

 

[ChickCrazed]

Kiniska ~ Yes, I took that video at night, so next time I'll do that during the day when it's sunny. I'm going to go buy some live mealworms today to try to convince all the chicks that I'm not a monster. I have been slaving away taking care of them, but they all are skittish. They have improved some, though.

I like minmin's twin bed sized brooder! My chicks are already kind of outgrowing the large dog kennel, but I cover the bedroom floor with paper towels and let them out to "fly" around or take a dust bath. They are all so pretty and entertaining!

My 7 week old Marans are skittish too. They seem fine once i pick them up, but they are seriously not happy with me reaching in their brooder and go into seriously evasive acrobatics. I wish the weather was nicer so I could get them outside in some form and sit with them on their level, I'm hoping the warmer days next week don't include rain so they can go for their first foray outside, and then move into the garage.