INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[atrueb00]

I have had an interesting few days. I took Monday and Tuesday off of work to plant my vegetable garden. I have about 200 square feet to plant so it takes a while to do. I also decided to utilize companion planting so I planted a redic amount this year! It is a pretty cool concept! Of course we had gale force winds and rain for most of my time off so I ended up working REALLY hard to get everything done before the bad weather hit. I ended up planting on Sunday in 30 mph winds and had seeds blowing everywhere. It will be pretty interesting to see what it ends up looking like! I may have some unplanned "companions" lol.

My parents suffered a tragedy, their great dane (rescued a year ago) attacked one of their dachshunds and he ended up dying after 3 hours of surgery to try to repair broken ribs, a punctured lung and kidney and liver damage. He was my dad's dachshund and it is so hard to hear your dad sobbing on the phone because his best friend is now gone in such a horribly violent and unexpected way. The great dane had previously attacked two other small dogs and they had been working with a behaviorist to try to fix the behavior, which the behaviorist thought was fixable. They are now blaming themselves for not sending her back to rescue after the other incidents. If they had this dog would still be alive. It is human nature to blame yourself when this stuff happens and there isn't much you can say to comfort them. We have all been a crying mess over the whole thing. The great dane went back to the rescue within 12 hours of the latest incident, so in a way they are mourning the loss of two dogs. Such a horrible situation.

I woke up last night to "no no bad dog" laying on my select comfort mattress control. My bottom half was sagging! My sleep befuddled brain thought I was under attack at first from the whirring of the mattress box and my body being moved...kind of funny. Then since I was awake I heard coyotes CLOSE, they were carrying on and sounded like they were right outside my window, which would probably mean the chicken coop or horse barn. So I spent the rest of the night awake stressing about the chickens and my old skinny horse. So now I feel like a zombie from lack of sleep. BTW everyone was fine but this is the first time I have known of coyotes getting this close to the house and I don't like it. There isn't any woods near me so they usually stay on the other side of the ravine/creek in the fields to the back of my property. Not sure what I am going to do if they decide to start lurking. They are becoming such an issue EVERYWHERE and I haven't heard of a good way to stay safe from them. If they decide your property is a buffet they will come back until they get what they want. I guess in Carmel a lady left her house to run an errand and came back to a destroyed house. A coyote had busted through her door and killed her dog IN HER HOUSE. It really is terrifying.

This is just awful. I am so sorry.

I have 3, the fourth is a big ol' faker!
They do make the screechy dinosaur noises, but this is a very quiet "blupblubblurpblupblupblup" content sound.

I'm glad to not be the only one who thinks of chickens sounds like the simulated dino sounds from Jurassic Park and other dino movies. They are like little T-Rexs and even sound like them sometimes!

 

[atrueb00]

Since the silkies are about the same size of the Cornish X, and they've had 2 weeks to sniff/see each other but not touch, I went ahead and opened the run so they can co-mingle. The smallest silkie hen I have really likes to go in their coop and eat their food! Reminds me of the Sesame Street song, which one of these is not like the others? LOL



My black rooster, Sam, has been getting the Poly-Vi-Sol without Iron for a few days now. He seems the same, but today when I checked on them at lunch, he was in the nest box with one of the hens. They snuggled together for at least an hour. So funny to see a rooster in the nest box.



New pic of Top Knot the rooster, I think this is his glamour shot with the wind in his feathers and the violets popping up everywhere he walks...but then again I am very partial.

 

[LonelyPageTurne]

Someone is willing to send me a dozen rumpless tufted blue or splash barred araucana eggs. I could really only keep 1 baby and don't have a bator at this point anymore. Would someone with a bator hatch them and be willing to give me a pullet and keep whatever else hatches?

 

[SallyinIndiana]

Someone is willing to send me a dozen rumpless tufted blue or splash barred araucana eggs. I could really only keep 1 baby and don't have a bator at this point anymore. Would someone with a bator hatch them and be willing to give me a pullet and keep whatever else hatches?

Patrick / Racinchickins has an offer out there to incubate eggs. Shipped eggs don't hatch out as well as non shipped eggs. I think a 50% hatch rate is good for shipped eggs. Meaning you might need at least 4 eggs to get a female.

 

[CountryHen19]

New pic of Top Knot the rooster, I think this is his glamour shot with the wind in his feathers and the violets popping up everywhere he walks...but then again I am very partial.

Loving

this glamour shot He really is striking a pose!

 

[leslea]

Love that show, I am afraid they cancelled it though! It used to be on Saturdays after The Incredible Dr. Pol and hasn't been a new one in weeks. My chicken is such a cute naked neck!

Well, I watched the whole episode and not a chicken to be seen! Tease!

 

[CCCCCCCCHICKENS]

Someone is willing to send me a dozen rumpless tufted blue or splash barred araucana eggs. I could really only keep 1 baby and don't have a bator at this point anymore. Would someone with a bator hatch them and be willing to give me a pullet and keep whatever else hatches?

If I was closer I so would, as I am always willing to take in some araucanas. Man, I wish we were closer! Hope you find someone!

 

[Minminme]

I'm betting if it's not that big and not pink then girl. How many did you hatch?

Got eight from the hatch, none of the Blues hatched though, and of those 3 died within 24 hrs. I picked the two that I had a feeling were pullets and traded the other three for a "new" incubator. I also got "rights" to mate mine to my friends BCM roo when the time comes. So definately hoping these are girls! Still havent gotten any pictures of my babies yet...will try this weekend if the weather holds.

 

[amwchickin]

Hey all. I forget who posted the mushrooms...I'm jealous. I went on a Sunday and all I came back with was poison ivy! I had pants and boots on. My DF had shorts on and got no poison ivy. I just want to scraaaaaaatch!

My chickens are all tired of the rain. It felt like a monsoon down here Monday. We have constructed boats and life rafts for them. Chicken floaties are coming!

Hope you're all well!

 

[hoosiercheetah]

I don't think a shotgun blast would go far, and they're nice and loud for a firm "do not go" impression.

ETA: I live in the woods next to a gunsmith and although I'm locking down my coop tight, we hear coyotes on the neighbor's property. If it comes down to it I think DH will go out there with a shotgun. It scares me, but you gotta do what you gotta do, I think.

A shotgun miss won't travel as far, but depending on the shell, it could still be lethal for 100 yards or more. I've personally witnessed deer taken down at 75 yards by a 12ga and #4 buckshot. A load that's light enough to be safe will not kill the coyote. The noise might startle them away, but they'll come back if they want what you have. Also, a shotgun miss spreads in a much less controlled pattern than a rifle bullet. Also, because of the shorter effective range, hitting a coyote with a shotgun is terribly difficult. You're much better off setting up with a high power rifle and decent scope at 200 yards and a downward angle. Put the bait 100 yds from your house and go sit on your roof with a tripod. Pick them off as they come in.

Use a 2x2 or 2x4

Thought about that, but lumber costs money. The December snowstorm gifted me a large number of pine branches, gently torn away from my favorite tree.

I just want to scraaaaaaatch!

As a lifetime sufferer of horrible poison ivy reactions, let me just say: Hydroxyzine. Go to your doc and demand it. It totally relieves the itch, in a miraculous kind of way.