INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[SallyinIndiana]

Has anyone else noticed mushrooms growing in their deep litter runs? I'm thinking it is the cooler wet weather and the shady areas. But DH thinks the wood chips we used had mushrooms in it.
Next question about the mushrooms. My chickens, ducks and turkeys all like them. But for some reason the turkeys really get a kick out of the mushrooms that seem to pop up overnight. They down them first thing and start acting all wild flying around their pen even into the sides of their pen's netting. The other birds just peck at the mushrooms here and there but no the turkeys almost fight over them. Do you think the mushrooms are making the turkeys a bit dreamy or maybe seeing things?

 

[SallyinIndiana]

I have 4 ducks from the ducklings I got from @racinchickins They all look the same. The 5th one also looked the same but did not fair well when one of my other ducks went broody / attack dog.
Only 3 are pictured here as 1 is camera shy. I think they look like mallards. Any other guess for their breed. Or does anyone see a drake in the mix?

 

[Little Ameraucana Mom]

Quote: Mine do just fine in winter. Mine will even play in water in the cold !! Doesn't seem to bother them at all, and if they did fine last winter, I'm sure they can handle a normal winter just fine.

 

[SallyinIndiana]

Quote:
if you keep breeding the dark with white, I'll get in line for 2016.

 

[Rhandi74]

I have 4 ducks from the ducklings I got from @racinchickins They all look the same. The 5th one also looked the same but did not fair well when one of my other ducks went broody / attack dog. Only 3 are pictured here as 1 is camera shy. I think they look like mallards. Any other guess for their breed. Or does anyone see a drake in the mix?

They look like mallards to me. Here is a pic of mine. Rouens are very similar but larger so I posted a pic of my Pekin with my mallards for size comparison. You should be able to sex them according to their voices. A female has a loud defined quack and a male is very raspy, my boys do not sound at all like they are quacking. The duck on the left of the waterer looks like a drake due to his greenish hue in his beak. The feather change in my drake did not start until he was about 16 weeks old. Mine are 20 weeks old and started laying at 17 weeks old.

 

[bradselig]

We are burning the bags right now.  The feed is gone and a few birds are a bit hungry as the food ran out yesterday morning.  Both storage areas have been sprayed down.  And the new food we are getting today will be coming from a new location and be put in our first storage area that has set empty for 2 weeks.  It is the humidity and  the mild temps.   But they get everywhere.  We are burning anything that is not valuable that the mites have been on, some stuff including old magazines are just impossible to clean. 

As for keeping the food in my house, not going to happen, I will not take the risk of a mite infestation.  I had food in the basement for brooding and I was constantly nervous about mites as chicks spill so much food and they have both the heat and the humidity.  It did not happen but can you picture trying to get mites out of a basement?  So much extra stuff we have attachments to is stored in our basement. 

Juat curious where did you get the last feed? I had an outbreak last winter in the brooding room and in the garage where I store the feed. Recently I noticed tractor supply had a big infestation in the store. I was using dumor feed at that time so im thinking it was from them. I have since stopped getting my feed from them but recebtly had issues in the brooding room. I think it was from the original infestation as the garageis still clear of them.

They definitely are NOT fun dealig with. Ive been spraying a permitherin based insecticide and that seems to work pretty well. Im just going to have to get my shed built to use as a brooding area and get chicks out of the house!

 

[ChickCrazed]

Juat curious where did you get the last feed? I had an outbreak last winter in the brooding room and in the garage where I store the feed. Recently I noticed tractor supply had a big infestation in the store. I was using dumor feed at that time so im thinking it was from them. I have since stopped getting my feed from them but recebtly had issues in the brooding room. I think it was from the original infestation as the garageis still clear of them.

They definitely are NOT fun dealig with. Ive been spraying a permitherin based insecticide and that seems to work pretty well. Im just going to have to get my shed built to use as a brooding area and get chicks out of the house!

I've noticed a huge infestation of grain mites at tractor supply in both Lebanon and Westfield. The bags are just covered! I'm going to switch to a smaller local dealer that will deliver for free!!!

 

[SallyinIndiana]

Juat curious where did you get the last feed? I had an outbreak last winter in the brooding room and in the garage where I store the feed. Recently I noticed tractor supply had a big infestation in the store. I was using dumor feed at that time so im thinking it was from them. I have since stopped getting my feed from them but recebtly had issues in the brooding room. I think it was from the original infestation as the garageis still clear of them.

They definitely are NOT fun dealig with. Ive been spraying a permitherin based insecticide and that seems to work pretty well. Im just going to have to get my shed built to use as a brooding area and get chicks out of the house!

We typically get our chicken feed from RK in Martinsville. I got the turkey feed from a mill but the mites did not really get in that even though the bags were less than 10 feet from the turkey food can. All open bags of food get put into a can. But I don't have enough cans to store a 2 week supply. I need to look into getting a chest freezer or two I suppose. Something to hold the unopened bags and still be air tight.
Last year, the TSC we used to go to had some old feed that purina had stopped making. Those bags and only those had mites on them. I asked if they could order newer bags in and I showed them the mites. the next week we went back in and the mite filled bags were still t here and the feed bags on either side had mites. As far as I know the TSC did not toss any of the mite filled bags. Then again I stopped going in there last summer as looking at mites really makes me itch. Just like talking about head lice can make people itchy. Plus for us and the stores we go to, the price of chicken food at TSC is always dollars per bag higher than the price of chicken feed at RK.

Editing to ask about the shed. how do you plan to heat the shed and separate it into many pens? Brooding space / square ft of boxes got pretty high for us last year and we did not hatch for as long as you did. I think @racinchickins also might be interested in a brooder house setup to keep only the youngest chicks inside if any at all.
We need to get a few shed raisings planned out

 

[Minminme]

Hmmm stupid forum !!!

Sorry bn trying t upload my pic and it wouldn't let me!!!
Trying again! I just hobbled out n chkd on Diamond n her brood, Hatching vibes worked!!!! Yay! I'd like t introduce you to my/our new additions:

They are SOOO tiny!!! Both have correct # of toes! One has vaulted forehead the other doesn't. Hoping for pullets?!?!?

Ok in other new... I need t figure out if this one is a cockerel or pullet. I'm leaning toward coo kernel. What do u think? It's a Hatchery bird so has single comb...yuk! Lol

And here are my two "new" pullets they are supposed t be Barred Rocks.

ETA...ok the third picture wasn't supposed t b there...lol. But that is a cockerel. Was supposed t b a pullet but pullets don't crow...grrrr. Lol.

 

[Thriftymom6]

(I hope I haven't already posted this one- I don't believe I have. )

This is Flo next to our Pekins and runner.

Your killing me with the piglet. Ur such an enabler