INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[Chaneys Ranch]

Quote: The only bad experience I had with it is in the actual plastic GQF tray. I set a full tray of quail eggs in the hatch drawer. 2 lil ones got their legs stuck, and caused leg problems. Both were fine but had to have a brace. The rest were fantastic and let them have the space without damaging the unhatched eggs. Paper cartons are much safer. they can grip and climb off easier. min thing with the cartons, be sure there is open space on all sides. chicks may get stuck. One of my pekin had an issue with it, and he still has a bad leg, and limps.

Got my heat plate. Kiddos and I are getting used to it and getting things set up. This is how they've situated themselves so far.



Seriously - these kiddos should have a mamma.

Precious! I have to cut my flocks down so the momma birds can brood more.

Quote: Yep, thats perfect! Lots of available air flow. and the moisture was a good thing! Hatching needs a lot of humidity.

I got a birchen marans from brad when he did the last chicken train. She's incredibly docile. I think she's 12 weeks old now and she was still in with all my chicks until last night. Since I was worried about over crowding I moved them into 3 separate brooders and put her out with the big girls. But she is so docile she's been picked on pretty bad. Both of her shoulders are picked bare and bloody. I don't know what to do. Should I leave her out there to try to find her own way? Should I put her back with the chicks? What do I do?

I keep more docile breeds with younger chicks. I have a NN (turken) hen that is almost POL and even the polish hens are too aggressive to her. So She lives in the little pen with the silkies and younger birds. Anyone wanting a docile breed, they are very calm and sweet. Wish I had more.

 

[Thriftymom6]

I love the raised beds, I'm working on a garden with raised beds too. You are much further than. Worked in the yard all day today, cleaned the coop, and then took the kids for ice cream for helping me

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Quote: That will be a very docile hen in the long run.

I'm finally caught up, and I noticed several new members:

darmaboy
Originally Posted by darmaboysmom
I'm in Bourbon.

Welcome to the Indiana Thread! We are happy that you've joined us. The following is information about our great Indiana Thread for anyone interested:

About the Indiana Thread~
To participate on the Indiana Thread, we ask that you follow byc.com’s rules for family-friendly posts. We have members of all ages. Our thread is known for being very active, and our members are supportive, respectful of each other’s opinions, interesting, and fun! The Indiana Thread is a diverse group of fantastic members who range from newbies to experienced chicken owners, those who raise chickens for healthful food, and others who enjoy chickens as pets. Please post messages and photos as often as you like! Posts are not limited to the topic of chickens. There is no such thing as a “dumb” question! Whatever your questions may be, we likely have members who can help you.

Do you want to be listed on the Indiana BYC Members’ List?
“Being a member of this thread” just means adding your screen name and flock info, which can be helpful because the list is a spreadsheet format that lets you sort the list by breed, county, or other category. It’s an easy way to find other members who have the same breed you have or who live in a nearby county, etc.

Click on the link (Indiana BYC Members’ List) located below my signature to view the Indiana page. Just look at the bottom of the list page for sorting options.

If you’d like to be added, send a PM (personal message) by simply placing your cursor over my screen name: Mother2Hens, and you will see “Send a PM.” bradselig and CRSelvey (Cheryl) actually add the info, so you can PM either one of them directly, too-- whatever is the easiest for you. A personal message ensures that your info is added. Please send your screen name, county, and city. Also include the following information about each member of your flock: List each species (chicken, duck, etc.), breed (Barred Rock, Blue Cochin, etc.), is it a LF (Large Fowl) or Bantam? If you breed, please include the species. If you have any questions about this thread, please PM jchny2000 (Janet) who is the founder (thread starter) of this group.

Indiana County Map for instant member location/Avatars
If anyone would like a map of your county, like the one on my avatar, I will be happy to provide one. If someone wants a combo map and a chicken or an animal for your avatar, I can put that together for you, just PM me. When I read posts, many times I think “Now where are they from?” I look at the city and still have no idea what part of the state they’re from. The map icon with the county in red because you could quickly glance and see where the member who is posting is from. These avatars are not required-- they are just a free service if you’re interested.

Avatar Updates
If members would like me to change the photo(s) on their avatars, just PM me. Someone might have a picture of a chick that has grown into a hen (or a roo!) and would like to update the photo or someone might like something totally different.

BYC Indiana Google Map for detailed information
Cluck Acres (Curtis) set up a Google Map for just us INDIANA BYC’ers. You must first log on to your Google account or make a Google account. (If you have gmail, just use your gmail password). All you have to do is go to this link....http://goo.gl/maps/UShV6 . Here are the directions. You will see the state of Indiana.. Zoom in to where you live and then click on the red button that says Edit. After you click Edit you will see a hand, blue pin point and a zig zag line on the map. Click the pin point and drag it to where you live on the map. After you have placed your pin point then click on it and you can edit your description by adding your county. If you want to change your blue pin point to another icon or upload your own then up on the right of that box click the pin point icon and choose others or upload your own icon. If anyone has problems with this feel free to ask.

This information is submitted periodically by Mother2Hens

Welcome to any new members I missed

have had a difficult week.

This rain is going on too long! My oldest girls are demanding to be fed inside their coop and are expecting lots of treats. They have been getting fruit and vegetable leftovers the last week. Too many trays being brought in by drug reps to our office. I'm the crazy lady after a week of things sitting in the fridge....NO! Don't throw that away! My chickens will eat that! I get a lot of shaking heads.

I lost 4 young birds to a neighbor cat last week. She just killed them and let them lay. At least a raccoon or other wild animals wouldn't waste the meat. I was so mad. My favorite EE out this new flock was killed. I named her Cadbury, because well, she looked like the inside of a Cadbury egg, my favorite Easter treat. My neighbor denies that her 6 outside cats would do such a thing, but was real quick to come to.me crying saying my dog tried to kill her way overpriced chickens the other week. I had her come to my backyard where the chickens were free ranging and 8 had 3 dogs sitting in the yard with the chickens. One of the chickens was nearly ob top of a dog. I said I didn't think my dogs would do such a thing either. They may have chased them a little because well, chasing a bird is kind of what Aussies do. They herd. The neighbor and. I are at an impass. My dad set out a trap....He hates cats.

On the upside, I.met with ellymayRans on Monday and took a couple Roos and a few young ins off her hands. We had a wonderful chicken talk and some adult human talk. 4 boys and a ton of chickens! I could do chickens, but no don't think I could raise 4 boys. Wow. I took my pup along and we stopped by a forest and she swam. Monday was at least halfway nice. The rest of this week has been crap. I'm constantly wanting to check on my new additions to make sure they don't drown. I kind of had to make a quick setup since I came home with more than I planned. You all know how that happens!

Chick crazed - if you still have the two roos and anyone is going up that way from So In or coming down from there to my way (French Lick area), I would take them off your hands. Oddly enough, my DF likes roos more.

Now...I am on the hunt for an EE that is light colored.

Stay dry out there!

I am terribly sorry for your losses. Best of luck correcting the problems.

Quote: It sure gets confusing! I use GLW and BR for my black sexlinks. SLW will be used for the reds with my RIR hens.. finally have the birds to do it.

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

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I have to say I disagree with most of this relating to cats. Our barn cat is great and yet there is no containing him. He does have a job here and he is good at it. Not all cats living outside are strays.

I'll put my two pennies in this also. I have a cat (fuzzy wuzzy) my daughters cat. He stays outside in our barn or on our deck and sometimes in my bass boat! He is not a stray he does free range where he likes. Is a great mouser and I like to think he keeps our barn from being over run by vermin. Does not bother the chickens. Not even the smallest chicks! This surprises me I figured he would have some chicken nugget snacks but he don't mess with them. I'm not much if a cat person, I don't mind them just like to see'em outside more than inside. Not all outside cats are strays. But there are a lot of farrel cats roaming the country (and city) side! I say get rid of them how you choose.

I admit I wasn't thinking about barn cats out in the country. I guess it was presumptuous of me, but I was thinking of a crazy cat lady who puts dishes of cat food on her back porch to feed all the mongrel strays in the neighborhood, and then calls them her pets and gets offended if you suggest they're pooping in your garden.

My rapidity in taking this perspective probably stems from my own current situation - I have just such a crazy cat lady across the street - so I'm admittedly biased. Also, I don't think the op's description sounded rural, but again I admit I presumed.

I agree that there's a big difference between having a couple of useful barn cats around a farm, and feeding a herd of mangy, diseased strays in the city or suburbs. My comments were directed toward the latter situation, not the former.

Quote: Cats.. my 2 cents! I worked animal control for 5 years. 4 as the Director. Started an adoption program, took a lot home. Most well meant kitten births die. Never see a good home. never feel love, and get dumped. Get eaten by coyote, fox, stray dogs, hit by cars, starve to death. This is the reality. PLEASE spay and nueter. I have one female barncat that I spayed, and she gets shots annually. We get tons dumped here and they rarely last a few days. I catch and care for the ones that I can. Not coming in my house! Dangerous to my parent's health.
"hey its a farm, they need our cat" The number of deaths with cats is frightening, google unwanted cat euthanasia numbers and it will really help you understand how many are born, and just die. Thats not even accounting for the millions that are never known about! Kids need to learn a birth experience, but please.. don't kill a bunch of unwanted kittens or pups by allowing them to see it. Zoos, farms and many opportunities are out there for children to learn about birth.We need to teach our children any life should be respected and nurtured. and life is not disposable.
I am posting this because I lived with the decision of having to kill those unwanted puppies and kittens. I morally was not able to continue in that job, but did get the humane society involved in the town. 5 years into it, I just could not face all the abandonment and death anymore. It really weighs on your heart and mind.

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

I am beyond sick of this rain already. I miss those few days of beautiful weather when my kids talked me into doing this: I mean, who doesnt want to picnic near their chickens? haha
P.S. No one make fun of our clearly redneck rigged chicken run or my coop that still doesnt have any siding We will get that stuff done one of these days!

Love the coop! what are the kids sitting on, are they pools?

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Off to bed, nite everyone! Cant stay awake

 

[nathanaf8388]

Quote:

Cats.. my 2 cents! I worked animal control for 5 years. 4 as the Director. Started an adoption program, took a lot home. Most well meant kitten births die. Never see a good home. never feel love, and get dumped. Get eaten by coyote, fox, stray dogs, hit by cars, starve to death. This is the reality. PLEASE spay and nueter. I have one female barncat that I spayed, and she gets shots annually. We get tons dumped here and they rarely last a few days. I catch and care for the ones that I can. Not coming in my house! Dangerous to my parent's health.

"hey its a farm, they need our cat" The number of deaths with cats is frightening, google unwanted cat euthanasia numbers and it will really help you understand how many are born, and just die. Thats not even accounting for the millions that are never known about! Kids need to learn a birth experience, but please.. don't kill a bunch of unwanted kittens or pups by allowing them to see it. Zoos, farms and many opportunities are out there for children to learn about birth.We need to teach our children any life should be respected and nurtured. and life is not disposable.
I am posting this because I lived with the decision of having to kill those unwanted puppies and kittens. I morally was not able to continue in that job, but did get the humane society involved in the town. 5 years into it, I just could not face all the abandonment and death anymore. It really weighs on your heart and mind.

What a job that would be...

 

[Mother2Hens]

I love this photo of her 4 students observing the lesson! (The dusty bricks are actually terra-cotta colored.

)


Originally Posted by leslea

Okay, so I changed out my pine shavings for sand, and moved the brooder into the mud room, which I can shut off from the rest of the house. It took a few days, but I started feeling better. Tonight I felt good enough to take some snapshots of the chicks, and as soon as we finished, guess who had itchy eyes and a headache? I think I'm allergic to the birds.

While I wait for my Allegra to kick in, here are some pics. Everyone is supposedly 12 days old but my bantam EEs are much, much bigger than my bantam BR. I wish I had more BRs. Amy is so cute and sweet. But all the chicks are sweet. The silkies are very laid back. I can't really complain. The EEs are amusing, very curious. And the guineas are just weird enough to keep us laughing. Really do wish I had room for more, but I guess if I'm going to be allergic to them it's just as well. Just my luck!

Here are some cute babies at 12 days old:
















Amy's wings are NOWHERE near as feathered as the EEs!

leslea ~ They are so sweet! That's sad that you've been dealing with such terrible allergies. Maybe part of the problem is the high tree and grass pollen counts we've had lately-- instead of the cause solely related to chickens. I've always been a huge cat lover (I'm trying to forgive hoosiercheetah for his recent post!

), and I used to get special cat allergy shots so I could keep my cats (not that I would've taken the allergist's advice to not have cats). So maybe there's a feather dander-related immunotherapy solution for you. Also keep in mind that even when your chickens are outside, there will still be issues to deal with-- see my message to you below.

Wish I could report that I was working on building the brooder but this weekend will be another "wasted" weekend. I started getting sick on this past Tuesday and I got dx today as having pneumonia

Never had it before, surprising since my asthma history is full of bronchitis etc. Got a
strong antibiotic Levoquin ? Pharmacist said it was very strong so we will see. My chest xray showed the pneumonia but the PA said my chest sounded better than what she was expecting. Taking a breathing treatment as I type.

CountryHen ~ What a bummer and a weird time of year for pneumonia! Hope you're feeling better soon . . .

CountryHen and leslea ~ I have a box of latex gloves and a box of dust masks in a handy place for doing the daily poop/loose feather removal routine in the coop. No matter what kind of litter you use (I have a combo of a dirt floor, mulch from a tree, shavings, and pea gravel), there will still be feathers, dander, dried poop particles, and dust in the air-- not to mention spores and other allergens. "IMO" ~ Always grab and mask and gloves. Showering/washing hair before bed prevents sleeping in allergens-- including good ol' pollen. If you hold your chickens without gloves, don't touch your face, mouth, or eyes before washing your hands.

Btw~ I need to get a washable dust particle mask instead of using short-term disposable ones. Does anyone know anything about them?

One reason I try to be vigilant about wearing one while cleaning the coop is because a woman I knew developed a lung disease and eventually died from it. She didn't even have birds, but loved rose gardening. The illness was similar to histoplasmosis, which we recently discussed on this thread. In general, there are several lung illnesses caused from breathing fungus spores found in dirt, especially from soil that contains wild bird/fowl/bat feces and/or feathers.

I'm not sounding an "alarm" -- as we discussed before, most people who've had a fungus-related respiratory illness haven't had severe symptoms and most never know the cause; they just attribute it to a generic virus going around. But especially for people who have allergies or asthma-- it just takes a second to slip on a mask and gloves.

 

[Mother2Hens]

Hi everyone I'm new here from Parke county Indiana I am also pretty new to owning chickens I do raise some rabbits and mainly search for deals on chickens for other people although I am establishing my own flock I currently have two adult hens and two roosters along with a brooder in operation with 16 ee chicks and 2 silkie chicks the picture is of my rooster bandit he is a cuckoo mar an and that's where he roost and sleeps when the weather is appropriate thanks let me know if you are close I am always in need of good healthy laying hens or point of lay pullets or any birds or rabbits for that matter

nathanaf8388 and 4speedy Welcome to the Indiana Thread! For info about our Indiana Thread, please see Page 2752, post 27514.

Can anyone tell me what color/pattern this EE is? I'm assuming a lace of some sort. She is my fav hen at the moment!!

raisenemright ~ She is a striking looking hen! I love the black. My EE hen, Roadrunner, (pictured below) is a "classic gold" color (my term lol). As I understand, since Easter Eggers are a mixed breed that isn't recognized by the APA or ABA (Bantam) for poultry competition, there is no recognized standard. Since they don't always look the same and are often bred for variety in looks, they don't conform to a standard.
They're non-conformists-- and that can be a good thing!

Well we got hit hard by a pack of coyotes last night killed 5 roos several layers all but 6 of my chicks and 3 meat chicks. I need a turkey tom asap!
jsummers ~ So sorry to hear that!

 

[gunchief25]

Morning all Cockadoodledoooooooooooo!!!