INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[leslea]

leslea ~ Thanks for the tip! I love CafePress, but I didn't know they would print your own design. Since you, Leahs Mom, and I are graphic designers, we should submit some designs to jchny/Janet. She could post them without our names, and people could vote on their favorite. We'd have to decide on quantity of ink colors, which as you know, affects the pricing.

Oh, gosh. That would be fun.

I don't think the pricing varies that much by design with them, because they do it "print on demand." I think Zazzle might do that, too, but I've never used them.

ETA: Actually, you could have all the designs that way since there's no cost to having them printed "in bulk."

 

[leslea]

I'd leave it too! It looks perfect for chickens. I hope my coop looks that good one day!

Yes! Thanks! DH was kidding me that the chickens weren't going to judge me if I messed up the paint.

 

[hanakimi]

i don't know anyone to get nucs from locally as the places i know are all sold out. i use medium hives in my apiary and it seems from what i experienced when i purchased a nuc that the bees are on deep frames. so i had to make them fit in to my hives but that left gaps inside my hive for the bees to make burr comb. this year i am getting 2 new hives but one of my hives the boxes are all Deeps and i plan too put one deep on all my hives to hold the brood and i'll have one less task to do when checking my hive. perhaps you can contact someone in your area who removes swarms and ask to receive a swarm from them. Good luck as beekeeping is a lot of fun

 

[atrueb00]

I was going to start my hive this year, but I owe too much on taxes and it will have to wait at least a few months.

I also want to do a top bar hive, and it seems you can't get a nuc for those. I may build my hive in a month or two and try to lure a swarm. Are there any good local suppliers of bees? The only thing my internet research turned up was suppliers in Michigan. I'd rather NOT drive four hours each way - one way with a swarm of bees in my car!!!

We get nucs from a beekeeper in Nappanee, that's probably pretty far from Lebanon though. There are several sellers outside of Indy that would be closer: http://www.indyurbanbeekeeping.org/for-sale-map/. You can probably get a hive from May-July, after that time though people generally just have queens for sale. They'd come with a few helper bees but not a lot to help establish a full colony. We have a couple of empty hives out to bait some honeybees right now. Really hoping to get some free bees! I followed Fat Bee Man's tips on youtube. He's got great tips for people on a budget like myself. Hope that helps!

 

[atrueb00]

Yes! Thanks! DH was kidding me that the chickens weren't going to judge me if I messed up the paint.

 

[ChickCrazed]

I got to meet Racinchickins yesterday and see his wonderful setup! I am also officially in love with his Cream Legbars and his adorably friendly royal palm turkey hen

. If the turkey hen would be ok in my chicken coop with my chickens I would seriously bring her home!

I brought home four pullets, two barred rocks and two easter eggers. I LOVE them already!!! They are so tame even though they are seriously skeptical about their quarantine digs in my garage! They were already drinking out of the nipple waterer last night.

I built a permanent run for my Bielfelders and Isbars on Saturday so they got to experience some real freedom for the first time! I had previously had a medium sized dog kennel up against the pop door so they could start venturing out of the coop without getting eaten by my big kids, but it was so nice to give them some real outdoor space! They had figured out the tree stump jungle gym by late yesterday. 6 of the 10 were packed on top, with a couple others trying to find room to jump up. Finally one of the Isbars that was on the ground flew up and dropped down in the middle of the pile on top of the stumps, so they all shrieked and abandoned ship leaping off in all directions. Such a hoot to see them start to learn what the world is all about!

Here is the new divider. It is six feet tall (if they are able to fly that high I will put chicken wire at the top) and the new run section is 6 feet wide by 12 feet long. There is a four foot door that swings to allow me to get through. It also has chicken wire along the bottom so no one can stick their head through. I wanted something open enough to let light through so I went with a lattice panel and built a frame for it. I will paint it at some point! I'm pretty sick of major projects for a while and have a boatload of planting coming at me at some point!



A few of the babies outside!!! Also, the Bielies seem to have figured out the nipple waterers WITHOUT my help....how sad is it that these 7 week old babies are smarter than my whole laying flock...

 

[SallyinIndiana]

I now have my very own blue sumatra chickens. Thank you so much LAM and Brad for making it possible.

 

[atrueb00]

i don't know anyone to get nucs from locally as the places i know are all sold out. i use medium hives in my apiary and it seems from what i experienced when i purchased a nuc that the bees are on deep frames. so i had to make them fit in to my hives but that left gaps inside my hive for the bees to make burr comb. this year i am getting 2 new hives but one of my hives the boxes are all Deeps and i plan too put one deep on all my hives to hold the brood and i'll have one less task to do when checking my hive. perhaps you can contact someone in your area who removes swarms and ask to receive a swarm from them. Good luck as beekeeping is a lot of fun

Are you changing then from the medium bodies to the deeps on all your hives? We've always started with 1 deep then added on a super and then additional deeps as they needed more room. Nucs are on 5 deep frames. Whenever we get comb built up that we have to scrape off, we give it to the chickens. They love the larvae, honey and comb. Great to hear another person loves beekeeping and chickens!

 

[atrueb00]

leslea ~ Thanks for the tip! I love CafePress, but I didn't know they would print your own design. Since you, Leahs Mom, and I are graphic designers, we should submit some designs to jchny/Janet. She could post them without our names, and people could vote on their favorite. We'd have to decide on quantity of ink colors, which as you know, affects the pricing.

I do marketing/graphic design work too. So there are 4 of us in Indiana that also keep chickens? And at least two of us also keep silkies? What a small world! Anywho, hope to see everyone's designs, I think this is a great idea.

 

[alliejean]

Anyone want a New Hampshire rooster? My original plan was to send all the ones that turned out to be roosters to the freezer...but this guy is sooo sweet, it would be a shame so I thought I would offer him here first