INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[Thriftymom6]

Same here! I was so disappointed. I guess no homemade peach tea or pie this year.

Our cherry tree was bare not one this year. Last year we had SOOO many. The chickens came up and snacked joyously at the ones that fell.

 

[Rhandi74]

Hi everybody. So we switched to Nutrena feed today, and the chickens look like little kids would if their Mac and cheese was switched with Brussel sprouts... they hate it. Pellets are foreign, and the food is brown instead of Purina yellow. I mixed it with their old feed, but they only reluctantly ate it. I hope they get used to it. It is waaaaay cheaper than Flock Raiser, and I have roughly 60 chickens. Btw, have any of you fed your OEGB's pellet feed? I feel like it's too big for them. I think I got an egg from one of my little OEGB's yesterday, it was the size of a little bird egg. Adorable. Anyway, I got some pics of the 5 month old black LF cochins tonight and some updated pics of Cinder for @Rhandi74 My little guy, lol he is actually huge for 5 months. His brother now lives with @raisinemright The girls She was looking up at me, that' why her eye looks strange. Also The barn lights really mess my camera up. The cockerel again. I need to name these guys. My Dh thinks they look like oil, with their green sheen. Cinder. I think she is almost 6 weeks now. Those feets! Hope everyone is doing well. Its been super busy here, so I havent read much of the thread, I'm glad to see that @Rhandi74 made it over to the nice side. Your chicks are looking very cute! Cole and Cinder are just hours apart so I'm excited to see them grow together.

Wow...Cinder looks so big. She is absolutely gorgeous!!! I do think she is a pullet. Blizard is very red in his comb now. The pics I posted were from when they were 4 weeks old. My computer crashed so I can not upload pics from my camera until I get it fixed but I can get some new ones on my tablet. They just won't be great quality. Your other Cochins are also very nice also.

 

[Rhandi74]

Tell him to stop looking then LOL. Or when I have more fertile eggs, you can hatch you own!!    ........... We enjoy being enablers. Well I do anyway. 

You are right, I do enjoy being an enabler, too.
Everybody should have Cochins, well I think they should.

 

[Thriftymom6]

I still have this little lady available. If she doesn't find a home, she'll likely be soup soon. She doesn't have a lot of meat on those bones so it will be very sparse soup. 1 yo on labor day weekend. 1/2 Swedish Flower Hen 1/2 BA Laying a pullet sized egg almost daily Her papa is in the background here.

She is pretty. But I have to ask what kind of fence is that? An electric one?

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

I want to tell everyone thank you for understanding how I feel, most people ( non-chicken people) just say " its just a chicken whats the big deal. Then I get mad. and that just don't help. I'm trying to just keep busy and not think about it too much.

The snake has really put a damper on my egg basket I found out that Guinea keep snakes away. So I am going to try and find me 2. We are hoping that 2 wont be that noisy and the neighbors wont throw a fit. So if anyone needs to rehome a couple and your not too far away, let me know please.

Looks like the chickens are going to roost in the barn again tonight. This is going to be hard to break once I finally catch that dang snake.

I only got 8 eggs today and they were found all over the place. got no green eggs, no blue eggs, no pink eggs, and didnt get my jumbo cream egg today either!!! this snake has to go !!!!!!!!!!!

The ol'man is trying to make me feel better by letting me buy 3 Silkie hens 2 Frizzle Silkie ?? and a blue Cochin hen and a Blue Am hen for 55.00 is that a good price? they all are 3-4 mths old.

Very good price. I sent you a PM too, I am so sorry to hear about Honey

And I have a fix for your snake problem too.

Quote: My hawk issues ended when I added more geese and turkeys. I know for many thats not possible, but guinea will even help a lot. The little guys are relentless attacking a predator, and they sure handled my fox problem last year. All 3 species and the rooster alarms have stopped hawks from messing with my flocks.

The main reason I'm getting rid of my tolbunt roo


The bruise is about a week old now. Looks better than it did, but if don't put in with aggressive animals.

OUCH! Oh my, I am so sorry! Yes have had that a few times myself. He is lucky he isn't stew! What a shame.
Penelope (BLP) has been a good boy so far, but is highly aggressive to any strange birds, including hens! Very odd. I tried introducing my NN hens and he wanted to kill them, ugh. So they are all crated next to each other for 2 weeks to see if that works.

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Does anyone know of any other auctions/swap meets in/around Indiana? I am working on adding these to the Google map and calendar on the events page. I have these so far:

Wolf's in Ligonier, Indiana
Tri-K Pigeon & Bantam Club in Kankakee, Illinois
Dinky's Auction House in Montgomery, Indiana
Knox Swap Meet in Knox, Indiana
White River Show in Spencer, Indiana

I'll be checking http://www.poultryshowcentral.com/ for more but if you know of any your input is greatly appreciated!

Thanks so much for keeping up with this

Today was picture day for the youngins, hope you like!!!!

Adorable! (ran out of ovations)

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Houston I think we have a problem.

Went out to turn my eggs that I have in the incubator this AH and the GFI had tripped and temp. was down to 80. They have only been in since Sunday. Is there any hope?? Yes No maybe.

Keep them going.. hens go off the nest more early on.

I am so nervous! Just got 2 ayam cemani eggs. Picking them up tomorrow. I not sure how I'm going to handle the stress over these next 21 days!

WOW good luck on the hatch! I just saw greenfire's listing.... yikes!

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

My impacted Australorp hen is completely back to normal now! This was Day 3 of treatment. I want to thank@Leahs Mom and @hoosiercheetah for their suggestions.

What I did was isolate her and only offered water. I did not have coconut oil, but I crop tubed her twice with 5 cc olive oil plus 10 or 20 cc water. I massaged her crop firmly several times per day. I appreciated the cautions about possible aspiration, but my hen did not have much fluid in her crop, and I massaged her crop very low on her body. It went down significantly every day, and there was more and more poop. She also received 1/2 cc of short-acting penicillin daily, which I will continue for 2 more days to help avoid the development of drug resistant bacteria. She felt feverish for 2 days. Today her crop was totally empty, she did not feel hot, her tail carriage was normal, and there was more normal poop. I let her rejoin the flock this morning.

I read somewhere that a dose of docusate (Colace) could be given, and I did...but wouldn't again. The diarrhea was massive. Olive oil worked better, giving her a little extra nutrition while softening the fibers. Her poop was normal consistency with olive oil.

I also tried to get her to regurgitate some at the very beginning by holding her at a 60 degree downward angle over my knee, but the material in her crop was apparently too dry or thick. There is a description of this written by a poultry vet on The Chicken Chick's blog. Whatever you do, NEVER hold your bird directly upside down. They will likely aspirate and die a few days later. There is a YouTube video of this WRONG way, so beware. His bird died.

I am going to pull all the corn stalks today. We had pathetic corn, but I think that may have been the cause.

Call me happy all went well!

Thats fantastic news! WTG

Been getting a lot of eggs from my girls lately. Any suggestions as to what I can do with extra eggs that we don't use? We have been giving some away to friends but still not enough to matter. I have 25 hens
and don't want to part with any of them. If I chose to sell eggs how much should I sell them per dozen?

I sell for $2 a dozen and I tell people these eggs are the "real deal". My birds free range 5 acres and I ferment feed, They are fed an hour before dusk and locked up. I collect several times a day, and do not offer soiled eggs, period. All eggs will likely be fertile and hatching eggs are the same price in a combined coop. We have at least (?) 150 chickens here, and I rarely have extra eggs, my pigs get them for protein in their feed. I rarely sell, mostly offer to friends/family/good neighbors.
Fresh eggs are just too amazing, don't short yourself!

Quote:
Great ideas!

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Quote:
I watch my species. Muscovy especially, and silkies. Know your breed and species and watch the temps.

Quote:
I engineer a lot! ROFL and usually it works.. sometimes not so well. I am already thinking winter too.

RE: Heating. You know I have to get in on this.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/421122/think-its-too-cold-for-your-chickens-think-again

My coop is unheated and uninsulated. We reached around -15 at the beginning of the year and the girls were just fine.

I think it's been said before, but adding heat is a big risk. First off, if the power goes out, your birds are not acclimated to the cold and will suffer more in that scenario than they would if you just let them get used to the cold.

Second off, the huge fire risk is repellant enough, at least for me. Especially when it comes to those rickety clamp lamps and huge 250 watt bulbs. Those are overkill, and no manner of justification will get past the fact. 250 watt bulbs should not be used with poultry for any reason. They can ignite bedding if they fall. They can ignite dust if it lands on them. They can even shatter and leave glass shards all over your coop and open wires in the dusty air. They are just asking for trouble.

The only bird I have lost to the cold was weak to start with. She had lost almost all of her feathers in her molt and was already shaky. That is the only time I would ever think to give a bird some help with the cold, and I definitely would not add heat to my entire flock for one individual. What I would recommend if you're worried about your birds is to observe them. If they start looking weak or shaky, THEN act. Most birds will huddle, and that's perfectly normal for them to do. If they are not walking straight or are having trouble standing, that's when you worry.

I should add as well that common sense is necessary in deciding when to intervene. Chicks and some exotic species do need heat. Adult chickens do not.

That super cold weather I mentioned before? My birds were running around outside in the paths I shoveled in the snow like nothing was wrong. A few stayed inside for the very coldest temps, but most of them were fine running around like usual in the negative temps. This includes my supposedly cold-intolerant breeds like my Silkie, my Sebright bantams, my Mediterranian breeds (Leghorn, Ancona, etc.). They were perfectly happy. If you heat your coop, your birds will huddle inside all day and be miserable because it's too cold for them to go outside and get fresh air. This has been my opinion for a few years now and I've never seen anything to prove otherwise.

P.S. I don't say this because I don't love my birds. I adore them. I say this because I know this is what is better for them. That's all there is to it.






And sorry if I sound grumpy, but my widdle Wibbles may or may not be sick so I'm not in a very humorous mood at the moment.

I mostly agree with you for chicken breeds. I hope your lil ducklings ok, pm me, or text me no kidding, will send you my phone #

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

I am not from Indiana but I was invited to this thread by kabhyper1, she said you guys were great and would allow me to join. I was in another thread where we both posted and there was some bad JuJu so I no longer feel comfortable posting there. I am from East TN and this is my first year with chickens. My LF cochin hatched out some barnyard mix chicks at the same time kabhyper1's hen did. We enjoyed sharing pictures of the chicks on the previous thread. So I would love to be able to join this thread and share some pics and stories with all of you if that is ok.

We don't mind if you are in ohio, california, antartica...

Welcome!!!! Just jump in and have fun.

Ok so hoping the thread allows me to post this picture now:
This is Diamonds new contribution. The other egg is internally pipped. You can hear it chirping inside the shell.

hatching vibes!!!!

I think that will work great just I would put a solid floor in it instead of wire. That is just me, It works well to have a solid floor for them to scratch around and no worries about sore feet or toes getting caught in wire

I like a base with the shelf lining. Seems the least stress on any type of baby.

These are my Babys, growing up and getting their curls.

STUNNING! Oh my. They are gorgeous!!!!!!
So Sebastapol (if incorrect, please forgive spelling) are ok in Indiana? That's the only reason they are not here. I was told our climate is too cold! I adore them, was concerned its too cold for them here. I am very interested in adding these beauties to my flock.We are in S madison Co. my zip is 46064.
Everyone knows my love for geese lol.