INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[BryLT3]

How old is it now? Has it improved at all or stayed the same?

It has only been fully hatched for a few hours- maybe 6-7?

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Here are the little guys again. Another silver one hatched this morning as well!

Quote: We are having a slow period here too. No EE eggs at all, and several molting birds. My leghorns are laying finally and at least one of my RIRs.
You are doing fine, its just a slow start! And yes it makes you crazy waiting lol!

Quote: I am so sorry

Momma broody seems to be doing well. She has at least 4 dry chicks under there! So far she's hatched as well as I can

precious

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Well, the farmers almanac has officially announced that they are predicting a Winter that is even colder and more snowy than last year.....I am not sure how I can survive another bad Winter. My heated dog bowl waterer did not survive last winter, so I need another option this year and have multiple pens (although I am going to try to get down to 2 pens for winter. I currently have nipple waterers but I don't think there is much I can do to keep them from freezing if it gets that cold again. I also have a bunch of new trees and my last group of new trees didn't survive last winter. Any ideas on how to help these trees through a tough Winter?

I'm also bummed because last Winter killed off all the buds on my fruit trees and I had a pathetic crop this year, another bad Winter means another bad year for fruit.

My apple tree had almost nothing.

One of the two has hatched...anxiously awaiting the other one...

sending hatching vibes!

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

@SallyinIndiana
@jchny2000

We have one of the state-manufactured yellow No Trespassing/Biosecurity Area signs on our main gate to the chicken yard and garden. ISPA (Indiana State Poultry Association, affiliated with Purdue) sells them for $6 or $7. I think they will deter normal people with a brain who can read. Of course, it's usually the others who can be a problem.

For a while we had "trouble" with neighborhood kids showing up at random like we had a petting zoo, but since they are our neighbors we had to be nice. And they were kids, and just curious. One of their dogs ran off with one of our Australorp hens, but since that incident 3 years ago, they have kept the dog totally confined, which my elderly neighbor next door also appreciates, since that dog is an idiot and only knows how to bark. The dog scares her to death. Fortunately, he is a bird dog and did not cause any serious injury to my hen. Just grabbed her by the neck and jumped over the fence with her! She lost a few feathers and drops of blood, but thank goodness nothing worse. We were livid, though.

I won't meet people at my house to sell anything unless it's an object too big to get in the car and drive a few miles to meet them in a public place. I have read too many horror stories about bird thefts, and much, much worse than that. It only takes one dishonest or cruel person to ruin openness for everyone else. That said, I have really enjoyed my visits to other people's farmettes and chatting with them in person. I am surprised that a few let anyone come out because of the value of their birds.

Our local friends and neighbors do enjoy visiting with our birds, and I'm happy to keep it at that.

Well said! And i will be looking for those signs, thanks!

I must look up those signs. They sound much more in my price range than the others. But I still plan to get something yellow that has some kind of saying that implies GO AWAY

Hehehehehe!!!!

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

As some of you all know, I just ordered my 1st batch of chicks from Ideal. I paid for 10 Pullet "Suprise Special". Well THEY CAME IN TODAY!! Woot!! Since I had to work, I had a friend pick them up from the post office for me, bring them home and told her what to do. Everything was set up for her and I explained to her about watching them, feeding and watering... and so on.... Everything went better then I expected cause when I got home not only was my 10 pullets running around, chirping, drinking, eating and sleeping, but when I looked into the brooder... there wasn't 10 there.... there was 15!!! OMG!!! I am sure I now have 5 roosters... I didn't want any and was expecting to get perhaps 1 - but 5???? YIKES... that is too many for 10 hens. But none the less, they are all healthy, cute and doing well!!

Ideal did not inform me of what they sent... so I took some photos in hopes that you all could help me in identifying what I could possibly have (if able at this age)?

I have 9 of the Yellows, 1 of the Browns & 5 of the Blacks. Can you all tell what these little guys are... and don't be silly and say Chickens.... I know that much

​

Thanks in advance

Its really hard to judge so tiny, and the yellows could be so many different breeds, for example. They are totally precious!

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.

I would take her too, But driving very far is impossible. Hope someone has room for her, she looks sweet!

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

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.

Just adorable! I love the feet too

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Our Indiana Thread has a talent pool of considerate and helpful people!

Good News!

@hoosiercheetah , Mr. Jack of All Trades, (auto agent being one of them) located a Honda Civic in Indy for my DD at IU! For a very reasonable fee, hoosiercheetah also examined the car for signs from a wreck, flood, tornado, drug running, old bubblegum, counterfeit parts, ugly colors, bad sound system, etc. hoosiercheetah has been wonderful to offer his multi-talents to thread members from plumbing to electronic chicken coop devices~ and more. Thank you hoosiercheetah! Now I can have my lame, but handy Grand Caravan back, which DD has been using.

A side note:

@EurekaChic ’s DH had kindly offered his auto agent skills in Bloomington, but there were more car choices in a larger city. We appreciate their efforts!

Time (and the Thread) flies when you’re having fun
I am way behind on the thread from my Indy trip just a few days ago! I’ve had problems catching up because the site has been down, photos haven’t shown up, and I’ve had posts and PMs deleted. Very annoying!

On my way home on Wednesday, I stopped in Martinsville to meet @ellymayRans and her handsome little boys. She had five Black Bantam Cochin (maybe some frizzles!) hatching eggs that I brought home, and placed under Bonbon that evening. She had been laying on three unfertilized Silkie eggs, and had a little extra tucking to do to get five eggs arranged!

Miserable Heavy Air
We’ve been having horribly hot and humid temps here, so I’ve had six outdoor fans going for the chickens, plus plenty of cool water, watermelon, etc. Because of the heat advisories, this is what my DH did to Bonbon’s broody coop while I was gone last week.

DH likes to “act” like the chickens are my thing . . . Photo taken at night. You can tell that her coop is on the deck right next to the back door.

Great news on the car!!! WTG @hoosiercheetah !!!

Wow Bonbon has "central air"! I would say thats totally comfortable for her!

Quote:

actually that would be a lot of $$ standing there if it were true!

Quote: ugh grain mites are a pain. My guinea seem to clean up most of it, and I stare at feed bags like a crazy woman

but with raising mealworms I dont want the problem here either.
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.
Yikes, yes that would be horrible! I do have bags still, but hang them in the detached garage. Its dry and incredibly hot in there, pretty much just storage.Grain mites die off if there is no moisture, usually. If I get too many bags, Jack my neighbor will gladly take them from me, he still has around 40 head of cattle and mills his own feed. Bags help me keep a measure on what my flocks are eating.
I have been very lucky with my mealworms, grain mites are known to infest them. The garage is always dry, built on a slab and was planned well for rain. I bring in a colony every winter so I dont have to buy more, and put them in the attached garage.

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

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

This is Flo next to our Pekins and runner.

Oh my, so tiny!

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?

Some mushroom are poison, DNR has a lot of info for it. Turkeys are usually the least "smart" about whats ok.... They eat anything. If they act loopy I would look up what the mushroom is. Especially if the bird is meant for food, or a breeder.

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?

I think mallard too. watch for the greenish head and colorful wings. Hens stay very plain brown and smaller.

Quote: Looks like I will be adding them soon! will PM you also, am concerned how my adults will accept them.

Quote:
Yep, same for us. I will miss the peepeep and chatter but am tired of chicks in the den and garage.

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.

Babies are precious

Pic 2 how old is the bird?

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Ok another pic: lol sorry.
My Granddaughter is in process of moving out. She just came in and gave me these.
As it turns out she (Vice President of DC FFA) accidentally grabbed MY eggs from our fridge when she took them to this sale so...MY eggs won Grand Champion eggs!!! And sold for $350.00!!! For that dozen. So she said that these belonged to me! : D.

OHMYGOOOOSH!!!

Quote:

not showing my kid ROFL

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

CUTENESS ALERT!!!

Loved all the tumbling and exploring

Please share pics as often as you can!

Went to Jch's and got our littlest goat. She is only 3 weeks old. So adorable. Now she needs a name. Sorry no pictures just as we got home a not too small rain storm came by.

I have to say I was very very impressed with the Janet and her family have reused many items to make their several different coops and the way the birds all free range together. The geese came by to wish us well right as we were leaving. The gander was huge. No way he was going hungry free ranging. And the shade is amazing, lots of trees. The piglets were cute too. I like the one with a blueish rear. It turns out that if we get 6-8 hog panels and a shelter, I have a perfect spot for up to 2 pigs. I guess I need to make a choice between a pair of LAM geese or a set of feeder pigs from Jch. Of course whichever one I don't get first I'll keep on my list for future animals.

Hehe I plan to keep raising going forward! The pigs are a learning thing to start, but well worth it.
So glad you made it! Sophie is still baaaAAAaaaaaaing a little but she is fine. I am so glad your baby is settling in.
We also forgot hoove trimming! But google it, its really easy.

Our newest addition

My daughter had been asking for a pig for awhile now. She was very excited to get him. He is 5 months old and she named him Prince Julian.

love the spotted color, what breed is it?