INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[Delawaremommy]

http://www.cdc.gov/salmonella/live-poultry-05-14/index.html Looks like Tsc needs to find a new hatchery for chick days. I'm sure chick days has something to do with this.

I got my 2 babies from TSC this year and haven't had any problems....maybe it was certain shipments or since the one in Plainfield uses McMurray for some of their birds they use them for all....I don't know but mine are growing like weeds and it has ben an absolute blast to watch the total change in Taffy as for a while I almost thought she was a buff brahma....but now at 6-7 weeks she is getting her muff (we are calling it a face frame as girls don't have beards!) and her spotting of the MIlle Fleur...very weird....and of course fat momma Bounce (blue cochin banty) at the same age just wants to sit on my shoulder and almost purr....such a lover...they have moved outside during the day in their own little coop and love it....when I bring them in at night they just collapse in a pile and fall asleep!!! so very cute!!!!

 

[lilmizscareall]

Hey guys! I see chicken fest is in planning mode and I want to touch base with everyone about T-SHIRTS!!!
Please send me ideas! Quotes, etc...
If you are terrible at Photoshop, but have an idea let me know and I can talk you through a creative design. Have a cute drawing you or your child did? Send it my way!
"Is that one of Brads birds?"

 

[hoosiercheetah]

Like sands through the hourglass,
So are the Hens of Our Lives...



Chapter Two






So, I've had Queen Penelope in a crate next to the three new RIRs, Chrysanthemum, Peone, and Lily, for about a week and a half now.



Yesterday morning I let them all out in the yard to see how they would do around each other, and to see if anyone would challenge Penny.

They spent their first few minutes in the yard trying to figure out what to do with themselves.
Soon they all started doing the usual chicken things, scratching and pecking and eating grass and clover. Suddenly, Penny saw a little ant hill a few feet away, on the other side of Chrys. Penelope is my best hunter by far. She walked right through Chrysanthemum, shouldering her out of the way like a linebacker, to get to the ants. Chrys just stood there looking confused for a moment, and then decided to go see what Penny had found. She got her face down by Penny's, and as quick as a snake Penny nailed her right on top of the head. Chrys took off squawking and flapping like her butt was on fire. I couldn't help it; I laughed.



Take. That.



Their interaction for the next half hour reminded me of the Alec Baldwin scene in Glengarry Glen Ross. "The good news is, you're fired." Chrys actually squared off against Penny to challenge her authority one time, but that fight was completely one sided and didn't last long. For a while after that, Chrys stayed on the other side of her sisters, not leaving the group but keeping her distance. Eventually, the Reds figured out that Penny scratched up all the good stuff, and started following her around in a loosely disorganized sort of way, to pick at whatever she left behind. From a safe distance.



So now I know that when I integrate, at least I won't have a fight for Grand High PooBah. Penelope will always be the boss, Long Live the Queen! I'm still concerned that Chrys will try to bully some of the lower ranking birds. Then again, as someone said, sometimes a little adversity will bring the lion out in a mouse. Elsa is getting bigger and sassier all the time, and she still protects Sadie. The comets are almost as big as Penny now. It will be very interesting to see what happens.



In other news, I'm completely fed up with quarantined birds in the garage. It's impossible to keep their cages clean and dry. I'm a fastidious person, and I understand that it's bothering me way more than it bothers the chickens, but I'm not ready to let go of my OCD, even in the light of obvious, rational truth. I'm really close to ignoring everyone's sage advice on this issue.



That is all. Martin.










ETA this narrative has been slightly dramatized for your amusement. Chickens don't actually have that many thoughts.

 

[Leahs Mom]

Some time ago I had written a series of articles on fermenting feed for a blog that I am a contributing writer for. Jennifer, from the Urban Chicken Podcast asked if I would do an interview for her on the subject so I suggested that she do an interview of myself and the blog owner for whom I wrote the article. Anyhow, that interview is finally up today in which she interviews Leigh and I.

The interview is LONG... about an hour and 20 minutes.... but you can pause it and listen at leisure. It's here if anyone is interested ...scroll way down to the bottom of the page for the show audio: http://www.urbanchickenpodcast.com/ucp-episode-048/

It covers some of the basics of different kinds of fermenting, what the benefits of lacto-fermenting are, some "how-t do it" etc.

 

[Leahs Mom]

Like sands through the hourglass,
So are the Hens of Our Lives...



Chapter Two

So, I've had Queen Penelope in a crate next to the three new RIRs, Chrysanthemum, Peone, and Lily, for about a week and a half now.

Yesterday morning I let them all out in the yard to see how they would do around each other, and to see if anyone would challenge Penny.

They spent their first few minutes in the yard trying to figure out what to do with themselves.
Soon they all started doing the usual chicken things, scratching and pecking and eating grass and clover. Suddenly, Penny saw a little ant hill a few feet away, on the other side of Chrys. Penelope is my best hunter by far. She walked right through Chrysanthemum, shouldering her out of the way like a linebacker, to get to the ants. Chrys just stood there looking confused for a moment, and then decided to go see what Penny had found. She got her face down by Penny's, and as quick as a snake Penny nailed her right on top of the head. Chrys took off squawking and flapping like her butt was on fire. I couldn't help it; I laughed.


Take. That.

Their interaction for the next half hour reminded me of the Alec Baldwin scene in Glengarry Glen Ross. "The good news is, you're fired." Chrys actually squared off against Penny to challenge her authority one time, but that fight was completely one sided and didn't last long. For a while after that, Chrys stayed on the other side of her sisters, not leaving the group but keeping her distance. Eventually, the Reds figured out that Penny scratched up all the good stuff, and started following her around in a loosely disorganized sort of way, to pick at whatever she left behind. From a safe distance.

So now I know that when I integrate, at least I won't have a fight for Grand High PooBah. Penelope will always be the boss, Long Live the Queen! I'm still concerned that Chrys will try to bully some of the lower ranking birds. Then again, as someone said, sometimes a little adversity will bring the lion out in a mouse. Elsa is getting bigger and sassier all the time, and she still protects Sadie. The comets are almost as big as Penny now. It will be very interesting to see what happens.


In other news, I'm completely fed up with quarantined birds in the garage. It's impossible to keep their cages clean and dry. I'm a fastidious person, and I understand that it's bothering me way more than it bothers the chickens, but I'm not ready to let go of my OCD, even in the light of obvious, rational truth. I'm really close to ignoring everyone's sage advice on this issue.


That is all. Martin.
ETA this narrative has been slightly dramatized for your amusement. Chickens don't actually have that many thoughts.

Love the stories!
Hate the quarantine time too.

How do you know chickens don't have that many thoughts?

 

[hoosiercheetah]

Quote:
Some have more thoughts than others. Penny is quite clever. Most of the rest of mine are middle-of-the-road for chickens. Lily is dumb as a bag of hammers, and just does whatever Chrys is doing. Cathrine Howard is pretty dense too. She has to be shown where her food is. In the same place. Every day.

 

[kabhyper1]

My roo is the same, he is in sick bay in my garage in a kennel. He is not paralyzed, just very uncoordinated, which makes me think it is the vitamin issue that has been posted before. I don't remember ever hearing anyone say how long it took their chicken to get over it. I was able to track down liver Saturday night but he didn't eat any of it until Sunday morning, so it has really only been 24 hours since I got it in front of him. He is eating well but I am worried he isn't drinking enough with this heat. I'm at work so there isn't anything I can do other than hope he will take care of himself. He has been a really sweet boy through it all though. I have a feeling he will be my new favorite roo by the end of this! Oh, and it is Gregor, one of the Bielie roos that is having the issue. I gave all the others liver yesterday just in case. Does anyone know if they are more prone to this once it happens? Or WHY it happens?

You really need to get poly vi sol with out iron. Its a miracle cure as far as Im concerned. It has saved my birds a few times now. Also poultry drench is great too. Tsc, or any farm store should have it in the poultry dept. I've never used liver. I have a theory that when they get overheated, it knocks their immunity down, which I think makes them use vitamins and minerals faster than they can get them into their systems. Its my own theory, so don't quote me on that. Just from watching and reading. That breed may be like silkies, just more prone to deficiencies. Try the poly vi sol. Im not sure on dosage, I usually just put about a half a dropper in the water. One of the mason jar holding kinds. Well Im off to groom some poochies. Good luck!

 

[kabhyper1]

I got my 2 babies from TSC this year and haven't had any problems....maybe it was certain shipments or since the one in Plainfield uses McMurray for some of their birds they use them for all....I don't know but mine are growing like weeds and it has ben an absolute blast to watch the total change in Taffy as for a while I almost thought she was a buff brahma....but now at 6-7 weeks she is getting her muff (we are calling it a face frame as girls don't have beards!) and her spotting of the MIlle Fleur...very weird....and of course fat momma Bounce (blue cochin banty) at the same age just wants to sit on my shoulder and almost purr....such a lover...they have moved outside during the day in their own little coop and love it....when I bring them in at night they just collapse in a pile and fall asleep!!! so very cute!!!!

I got all of my bantams and our duck there and have had no issues. I called Mt healthy, but missed their call back and got busy and haven't returned their call yet. I asked our Tsc about it, and they said Mt healthy hadn't said anything to them about it. I know for sure that's where they got the chicks though. I am also under the understanding that it was chicks that were trucked into the hatchery, and not hatched there. Don't ask, I don't know what that means either. That was why I called Mt healthy. Anyway, apparently MH has had this issue since 2009. I got all my birds there last year, and never had a problem. I would say with the amount of chicks being sold by MH, and only 64 people getting sick, in the entire nation, it's not that bad. I'm not belittling the situation, just saying for me to freak out, It would have to be a bit worse than that. I'm not going to cull my flock over it. We have never had an issue, and we are chick cuddlers over here. I think we are fine. If the problem has been going on since 2009, I would think the outbreak would be much worse by now.

 

[number9]

Hey guys! I see chicken fest is in planning mode and I want to touch base with everyone about T-SHIRTS!!!
Please send me ideas! Quotes, etc...
If you are terrible at Photoshop, but have an idea let me know and I can talk you through a creative design. Have a cute drawing you or your child did? Send it my way!
"Is that one of Brads birds?"

You can use my drawing of the chicks I have for an avatar if you like.

 

[Mother2Hens]

You really need to get poly vi sol with out iron. Its a miracle cure as far as Im concerned. It has saved my birds a few times now. Also poultry drench is great too. Tsc, or any farm store should have it in the poultry dept. I've never used liver. I have a theory that when they get overheated, it knocks their immunity down, which I think makes them use vitamins and minerals faster than they can get them into their systems. Its my own theory, so don't quote me on that. Just from watching and reading. That breed may be like silkies, just more prone to deficiencies. Try the poly vi sol. Im not sure on dosage, I usually just put about a half a dropper in the water. One of the mason jar holding kinds. Well Im off to groom some poochies. Good luck!

I know that PolyViSol without iron is the one to buy for chickens, but I happened to think that liver is high in iron, (and thats the typical reason that liver is suggested) --so in the case of a chicken needing iron, I'm wondering if PVS with iron would be better for chickens that need more? I am not endorsing this idea because I am not a vet! Just wondering, that's all.