INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[ChickCrazed]

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.

I agree completely. I know a lot of people think "I find homes for mine" or "I will take them to a no-kill shelter". What people don't consider is that for every space your needlessly bred kitten takes up at a "good home" or a "no-kill shelter", another kitten or cat is prevented from taking that spot and ends up dumped or in a kill shelter. The reality is that there are only so many good homes out there and to add to the over-population while so many die in shelters is not something any animal lover should be doing. Accidents happen but they should be prevented at all cost. And, with so many low/no cost spay neuter programs in the state it doesn't cost much to prevent these accidents.

 

[ChickCrazed]

M2H your chicks are adorable! And I LOVE BonBon. She can come live with me when you are done with her

. How are your silkies doing? I got chicken mathed into a couple silkies recently

. I think they will do well in with my Isbars since the Isbars will be on the small side and are super docile. Fingers crossed that they are both female!!!

 

[LonelyPageTurne]

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.

YES YES YES YES YES! !!!!

 

[LonelyPageTurne]

 -- what else can you say sometimes....best of luck with the city council.  I also thought of what was suggested -- especially to get local 4-Hers involved.  Have them come and share about what they have learned & what life skills they have developed through the raising/caretaking of chickens (4-H is HUGE on developing life skills & this would be a great opportunity for some 4-Hers to see what a difference in their life & someone else's life those life skills can make!)  And welcome to the thread!!
So what breeds actually go into making an Easter egger?  A lot of my cross breed chicks from my 2 hatches have the look of an EE, but I know only 1 or 2 at the most are from the EE eggs that were in the clutch.  I really need to get some pics posted one of these days!

Anything that lays blue eggs. An ee can be an am that doesn't meet the standard or it can be a mix.

 

[LonelyPageTurne]

I agree completely.  I know a lot of people think "I find homes for mine" or "I will take them to a no-kill shelter".  What people don't consider is that for every space your needlessly bred kitten takes up at a "good home" or a "no-kill shelter", another kitten or cat is prevented from taking that spot and ends up dumped or in a kill shelter.  The reality is that there are only so many good homes out there and to add to the over-population while so many die in shelters is not something any animal lover should be doing.  Accidents happen but they should be prevented at all cost.  And, with so many low/no cost spay neuter programs in the state it doesn't cost much to prevent these accidents. 

Yes again. Exactly.

 

[racinchickins]

Quote: I feel the need to pile on here. One of my good friends is the Executive Director for the Hamilton County Humane Society, which is a no-kill shelter. You would not believe the number of kittens they receive every week. It is overwhelming. They have kennels piled on top of kennels for cats (and dogs). The lengths they need to go to in order to adopt out all these animals is incredible. And the money they need to do it is incredible also. I really don't know how they do it. No kill shelters should be an option of last resort if you absolutely cannot (not will not) support an animal.

As far as kittens or puppies go. In my opinion. If you are not willing to PROVIDE (not find) a home for every animal that you cause to be born, then don't do it. Finding a happy home for a puppy or kitten you were already willing to care for should be a happy circumstance, not a desperate need. If you want to know why, just volunteer at a shelter for just ONE day. You will never think the same way again, I know I haven't.

Sorry for the rant, but shelters aren't the answer to pet overpopulation, information and education for people to make thoughtful and informed decisions before a shelter needs to get involved is.

Officially back off my soapbox. You can now return to your regularly scheduled chicken TV programming.

 

[CRSelvey]

Hello M2H!! Its so nice to see pics of BonBon and the kids. They are really cute!

I'm heading out now to get this year's chicks!!

I'll post pictures from my phone once we get there!!

Good luck picking them out. I hope everyone is nice and healthy!

Love your Yard it looks so natural and friendly. Your babies are so sweet and I want your Chicken tractor..LOL. I would never have thought of using an old wheelbarrel for the handes and wheel!
Ive missed reading your posts and hope all is well with ya.

Thank you, it has to be natural because it just doesn't get enough attention ;-). Our lawn tractor broke at the end of the season and to replace it with one that is stronger, its so expensive. I called our local lawn care people the other day and they had it mowed, edged, and blown in less time than I could do any one of those things. I might just let them keep it up. I figured it might take five years of them doing it to break even on the cost of the tractor and maintenance ;-).

When my DH said he was going to use the wheels, I kept thinking he was going to put them under the tractor and that wasn't going to work. I just couldn't visualize what he was talking about, so I'm happy I just waited to find out. Its pretty useful so far.

Okay, that's hilarious. I have a white and buff EE that my daughter immediately named Elsa. One of our golden comets, who is almost all red with just a little white around the corners, is Anna.

My other EE was hard to sex, too. But the more time goes by, the more pullet she looks. From reading the several EE sexing threads, I think they're problematic in general.

Outstanding re-use of a wheelbarrow, by the way!

Elsa and Anna were definitely inspired by my 4 year old daughter (if you couldn't tell). I think the rest of my unnamed crew will end up going with the Tinkerbelle theme, but who knows. If you post pics of your EE, I am sure that people here can tell you what he/she is. I had one last year that was solid white and nobody was more surprised than me when she crowed. Muffin was a boy. I have learned a couple of things since then, but definitely not enough.

Roflmbo...My Momma is my bestest friend but she can be a real pain in the tusch too! My Husband thinks the world of her and would do anything for her...BUT he recently found out that just three weeks before we"ran away" and got married she told me: "Ricks a good guy, he is a fabulous friend but dont ever marry him hes NOT marraige material"... He just laughed and said hes glad she changed her mind.

Um...shhhhhh!!! NO she hasnt! she just told me a couple days ago when I was "complaining" what did I tell you before you ran off...LOL. Sometimes I think I married my fathers twin! Mom saw it way before I did! I got so many habits from my Mom also but am NOT as tolerant nor as submissive as she was with Dad. I dont see that as a problem, she does and thats one thing that I can honestly say my Husb. says he wishes I would have gotten from her...

NO GONNA HAPPEN!

So funny!!

 

[lilmizscareall]

The 3 sisters and their first baby's!

Raven on the left, an unnamed partridge Cochin bantam, and Elphaba(not pictured) brooded a collection of 21 eggs. 18 were Silkies from @kabhyper1 and 3 were partridge Cochin barnyard mixes from @chickengroomer.

This is the video of the babies eating for the first time. You can see several Silkies and the bright orange one is the barnyard mix!

Here is a recount of the eggs:
The 1st egg(silkie) was smashed, 2 eggs(silkie and mix) were not viable on the day 10 egg candling. 1 egg had a hairline crack on day 22 and was pronounced dead. At the time of this video Elphaba(the 3rd sister) was still sitting on 2 eggs(1 silkie is an early quitter I believe).

I miss being on here like I used to BUT I've been keeping really busy.
@Mother2Hens I saw a picture of Bonbon with her babies, can you direct me to more!?!?!????
As soon as all mine are up and eating/drinking I'll get photos, because I want to know what you guys thinking of the colors of the silkies!

 

[hoosiercheetah]

She's a wellies brown leghorn I believe.

I was close! :-D

 

[LonelyPageTurne]

I was close!  :-D

Lol yeah. She's a pretty tyrant lol.