INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[Leahs Mom]

@SallyinIndiana

What did you finally end up doing for the poison ivy?

 

[Minminme]

Welcome! I'm right by you in Bristol. I'm trying to find some more birds but its a little rough in the northern Indiana area. I am going to Wolfs Animal Swap in August. Its in Ligonier. Anyone else going?

If I lived in the area is be waiting 1st in line when the gates opened. Lol I don't need anymore birds but Jeesh it never hurts t look...right?!?!?

 

[bradselig]

Just an FYI, went to get chick feed from TSC and pulled out a bag of Dumor Starter/Grower and the outside was covered in grain mites! Not sure if its isolates to the Marion, IN store or through out their distribution but I highly recommend staying away from them as they can be veey difficult to get rid of. I know by experience! Lol

 

[Quinstar]

One more thing I wanted to add...

If you have an enclosed run, it is really helpful for the health of the birds, health of the ground, and also fly reduction if you make a deep litter in there. It keeps the ground alive and they can still dig through it for bugs, worms, etc.

I've mentioned this before but wanted to say again that many tree services will bring wood chips (mulch) for free if they are working in your area. I have wood chips waiting in piles to "cure" a bit before I put them in the run. They will get full of worms within about a 6 mo period of time.

Anyhow, use the wood chips if you can get them along with the litter (with wood shavings) that you clean out of the chicken house. Cover the whole run with it and continue to build it up every time you clean out the house. (Just dump it in a big pile...the birds will cover the whole run with it and it gives them something to do!)

This is one of the best things I've done for our housing situation. No sickly, impacted, slimy, disgusting, dying runs. No smell. Very low to no fly congregation. Healthy ground for the birds to dig through. And when spring comes around you can dig some out for the garden. What's underneith will be a wonderfully finished compost. (Then keep on building with more litter.)

My daughter dug some out for her garden this year and made an "above ground" garden using only the soil that came from the chicken run. She's never had such great growth in her gardens before.

I love this idea! Our birds free range, but we have an enclosed run for when we are out of town. Even with them spending limited time in it it still gets nasty. Even better that we can then put it in the garden every year!

Welcome! I'm right by you in Bristol. I'm trying to find some more birds but its a little rough in the northern Indiana area. I am going to Wolfs Animal Swap in August. Its in Ligonier. Anyone else going?

I'm probably going to be there. Haven't made it yet this year. Always fun to see everything!

I think it is more of a curiosity thing. I like to compare it to Curious George and his window washing job. George was told not to look in the windows but....

Sleep is good, but instead of sleeping in, I would prefer a night that I got to bed really really early. If everything got done and I got to bed 2 hours early that would be so much more relaxing to me than sleeping in and waking up thinking of everything I had to do.

I'm more of a night owl than an early riser. Lil man goes to bed at 8, so evenings are great. I'd sleep in until 9 every day if I could. Nothing makes me happier than crawling out of bed at 9:15 to a hot cup of coffee!

 

[Minminme]

I'm updating my coops again, lol, this time with artwork! Someone recently told me that my set up reminded them of a little chicken country/town so I went with...world? Lmbo! This is the outcome:

. This one represent France?

Mexico and...???France again? Or Canada? Lol

um...Austria??? Lol
And hopefully this one represents $! Lol

I think the pics are turned but couldn't figure out how t change that. Sorry.
What do ya think?


ETA: there are probably grammatical errors but I'm not a foreign language specialist. Lol

 

[browncow15]

This is the first year we have been bothered by flies at the coop, but it's so bad we had to do something.  I have a QuickBayt station hanging from the ceiling of our main coop (used a gallon milk container with 2" round openings cut near the top, four total, and wired it to the ceiling where no birds can possibly get to it.  It does NOT smell, but has some attractant in it.  There are other ways to use it, but the safest way for the chickens and our neighborhood pets was to hang a bait station.  It's helping, and it hasn't been up even a week.  Cooler/wetter days aren't as bad anyway, but those hot days--yikes!  I've also been removing droppings more frequently from the henhouses.  DH has also used the garden rototiller a couple of times in the chicken yard to turn the droppings, etc., under, and the chickens LOVE it afterward.  We have such a hard clay soil that it makes finding bugs and digging dust baths easier.  It also reduces the aroma of the droppings and indirectly reduces the number of flies.

Hum I've never thought of using the rotatiller in the run I may have to try that. DH dumps our bagged grass in with them when he mows. They pace the fence line waiting for him every time the mower comes out.

Anyone have any hatching eggs for sale I can give my broody? I'd hatch some if my own but I don't need any more barnyard mixes!

 

[hanakimi]

Is anyone else having trouble with flies this year? We hardly had any problems with them last year, but they are terrible this year. Do any birds eat them? I know my chickens ignore them, but was wondering about Guineas or Muscovys?

I am having the same problem myself this year with flies.This is the first time i have had to buy fly traps to hang in the chicken run. I only have chickens and like yours they seem to ignore them

 

[SallyinIndiana]

@SallyinIndiana

What did you finally end up doing for the poison ivy?

Hot showers with dish soap put directly on the itchy areas to break down any residual oils. This did cause some spreading but it decreased the intensity of the irritation in the original location. Changed clothes / outfits 4 times a day so that any oils that had gotten on the material could not spread back to other areas. Spread lanolin all over the rash. If I could get away to a place I did not need to have clothes on until the next shower I would coat the rash in borage oil. For the children they got coated in the borage oil and dressed in shorts with a tank top or no top for a bit. Both the lanolin and the borage oil did not stain clothes but they would leave a greasy oil spot on any clothes they touched. The borage oil really made a big difference. The hot showers made a difference. The lanolin became a somewhat sticky reminder not to scratch.
And of course the bed sheets and towels all got washed multiple times too. Lots of laundry to help me think all of the oil was gone.
in the end it was 10 days before the itch was completely gone and 14 days for the majority of the rash to clear up.

I still have not found the ivy plants on our property but my youngest seems to have gotten it again. Of course all of my children were rolling around in the dirt and weeds last weekend. And my youngest found our neighbors weed covered dirt mound made from 3 dumpster truck loads of dirt. It is a wonder he is not covered head to toe. Still he has so much fun playing, he could care less.

 

[lilrider]

Quinstar have you been to this swap before? I never have so hoping its decent. Is there usually a good amount of birds?

 

[hoosiercheetah]

so I'm wondering about freezing eggs. Is it like freezing milk, Where sure it can be done and the milk is fine for cooking but the taste and texture are drastically different. I have heard you can't thaw an egg to fry it but it is fine for making cookies. What about other things, Mayo, bread, pancakes, eggnog, scrambled eggs, ...

I haven't had any luck freezing eggs. I tried the ice cube tray method, and when I thawed the eggs, the texture was ruined. I attempted to use some for baking and scrambled eggs, but they refused to blend with anything, and were very grainy and pretty much horrible.

I have wondered if you'd get different results by scrambling the eggs first, and then freezing them. But I suspect this will also not work.

On the subject of frozen milk, I do this all the time. We've got a deep-freeze full of it right now. I found the key is to thaw the milk quickly in a sink full of very hot water, and shake the carton periodically, as violently as possible (without breaking it). The vigorous shaking seems to help re-emulsify the solids, and the texture returns to normal. I do this with whole milk or 2% and have good results.

I freeze bread regularly. I've never had a problem with it, home made or boughten. Same with pancakes - my kids demand that I make extra to freeze. You want to re-heat them in a toaster, or toaster oven, NOT the microwave.

I have not tried to freeze mayo. I suspect texture issues will arise. But I have a batch of homemade mayo in the fridge; I'll freeze and thaw some of it over the weekend and let you know what happens.

Most cooked foods freeze well, but the best way to keep them good is to exclude as much air as possible. For beans and veggies, put them in a jar and top it with water, then freeze. Same for meat - I freeze cooked chicken in jars of water; then thaw it in a colander in the sink. A minute or two of re-heat in a pan and the water's gone. Raw meat does well in ziplocks, as long as you suck most of the air out (using a straw in the corner of the bag makes this really easy).

Almost any kind of casserole or pasta dish will freeze well, just make sure to wrap it tightly with plastic wrap, again to exclude air.

I've had basil from my garden last over a year in the freezer, and it was still awesome when I chopped it up into spaghetti sauce - which I then froze. :-D

Feel free to ask about anything I forgot!