INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[Leahs Mom]

I think so far the biggest selection is from Brad. Racin..also has some pullets. I have some but the nicer / friendlier breeds I have are only 11 - 14 weeks old, so it could be another 10 weeks or so before they start to lay.
I do have 2 HRIR almost laying hens that are on my possible cull list. one is for color and tail lacing the other is for type ~ too round looking no brick shape.

@SallyinIndiana

Which do you consider to be your "nicer / friendlier" breeds?

 

[flyladyrocks]

Well, this morning my flock feels a lot smaller. One of my oldest hens, Pace, passed away last night. She had been slowing down a lot just over the past few days, so I have been braced for this for a while. Still, after seeing her marching through the chicken yard on her big, stompy feet, and doing her weird 'water chase' drinking at the bucket, and making her funny 'bowwww' noises instead of the usual cluck for 7 years, it's going to be strange not seeing her around anymore.

 

[flyladyrocks]

P.S. Brad, you should be ashamed, preying on all of us who have no self control...

But I meant to ask, didn't you have a partridge Barthuhner pullet listed before? Did you already sell her?

I am in complete agreement! And now I probably have no good excuse to not get more b/c it looks like within the next week we will be getting a new coop. Yay! A Nice playhouse was listed on Craiglist today. Just gotta figure out how to get it to our house. So that gives me one week before Chickenfest to get it in shape and then I will have a hospital/ quarantine coop. Oh the possibilities!

If you don't see me on here between now and Chickenfest you all know why.

 

[flyladyrocks]

Ok, I am making room for a couple new pullets. I lost a 5wk old pullet silkie last night. Poor little thing was pecked t death! She tried t go into the coop were she'd be safer and the red sexlinks that I bought last August as pullets jumped on her and peck the living daylights outta her. The pen had already bn closed up for the night so by the time i got to her it was too late. These red sexlinks are the meanest birds I've ever seen! I really DO NOT like their attitudes!! So as a result I happen t go to TSC t pick up scratch grain today and lo n behold...today was the monthly animal swap. I was asked by someone who knows i usually wheel n deal, if I had any laying hens for sale...SOLD! LOL. So now I have room for three or four LF pullets or hens. I need to replace them with LF because I need the eggs. They need t b laying by Sept/Oct. Anybody have anything that fits that bill, that's going t the Chickenfest????? PLEASE...LOL

Oh and THANK YOU "Sally".

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

hey guys! So much for getting to be on every day again, UGH! Looking forward to chickenfest, and our swap/trade/sell event also!
Want to welcome any new members I have missed. If you posted something to me and I didn't reply, please send me a personal message. (PM)
I will contact the campground owner this week to confirm how many tables he has, chairs etc. so we have lots of room.
If anyone has an awning available, we can set a couple up at my lot so the birds will be shaded. We discovered ours is done for thanks to some mice

I will have available for swap/sell at chickenfest, please arrange in advance:
Goslings, hand raised & socialized Embden, and Chinese. May have a few African. $5
Pekin ducks adults $10 ducklings $3
Muscovy ducklings $4: lavender, chocolate/chocolate pied, black/black pied.
EE chicks
will likely have EE eggs available. Blue and green layers.
Guinea keets $3
Lavender, lavender pearl and some white & I am expecting a large hatch on guinea soon.
All birds parent stock are free range most of the day, penned at night.
I am open to trades including some livestock.

 

[SallyinIndiana]

Quote: First I should be clear. I noticed I was unclear originally. By nicer above I did not mean a lap hen but flock friendly and nice hen / pullet. So far, for me and my little mini flocks these are the breeds with flock friendly FEMALES:
the heritage RIR, the younger barred rocks, the orpingtons, the bramas, the sumatras when not broody, the cream legbars

I know there are more breeds that are on the easy to integrate side but I don't have experience with them. Production RIR hens get extremely mean towards non red birds in my flocks. It has happened 3 times now. I really only get the production RIR chickens because so many new owners want them to the point of dismissing anything negative about the RIR breed.

editing to add that there are times a flock aggressive or bossy hen can be a good thing. Once broody it helps to be a bit on the bossy side. If I need to move a single hen to an existing flock, I have a better feeling when that single hen is not timid. And the bossy hens are great for teaching the small young roosters how to dance or run for their lives.

 

[Leahs Mom]

Thanks. I did understand you to mean "flock friendly" and that was what I was asking.

Have you had buckeyes?

 

[SallyinIndiana]

No but I saw and held one rooster at a 4H show. He was a great looking and quite calm rooster. He the roo was at least a year old and still his 4H child about 7 and at most 60 lbs was able to properly show him off. The roo reminded me of my heritage RIR roos but of course no large single comb.

editing to add, if niceness is something to be desired, then the heritage breeds from a heritage breeder are your best option. Heritage breeds typically do not start to lay as soon or as often. They typically continue to lay at their slightly slower rate for a longer time. I'm not sure if a production hen or an heritage hen starts off with more eggs to give their owners but the heritage chickens are my preference.

 

[SallyinIndiana]

Chicken fest attenders. For the pot luck dish, I think I'll bring a large garden salad with cheese and dressing options on the side. I'm also thinking cookies but they will be from the store bakery if there is a heat wave on Thurs and Friday the 17-18th.

 

[Minminme]

Ok so adding to the "potluck" menu. I was thinking of bringing a Four Bean salad, Beef BBQ (in a crock pot) with buns for sandwiches, and some kind of desert possibly a cake maybe? At least there's a meat dish and salad.
If no one objects the cake will b made a few days in advance and then frozen so it will transport better and hopefully the frosting won't melt off of it.