INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[atrueb00]

Info on another swap in Silver Lake, IN

When I search for info on this event, I always get results for Wolf's Animal Swap in Ligonier, IN. Are these events one in the same? If they are separate, I just need the address to add it to the Map/Calendar and put it on my radar for 2015 dates to add. Thanks!

 

[kabhyper1]

Hey guys, how do you over winter ducks? We have 3 khaki campbells. I'm planning on putting their coop in the barn this year. I am more curious about the water situation. We have cookie tin heaters for out poultry waterers, but ducks have to clean out their nares. So... how do you handle the water situation for ducks in the winter?

 

[chick rookie]

Input about Ideas and Products
It's so helpful to hear about different members' experiences using ideas and products that have been discussed on our thread! There are always factors that may make something work for one person, but not another-- and it's also interesting to learn about the reasons why. I always thought those treadle feeders sounded perfect, but I hadn't thought about bantams or mechanical issues. I haven't had a need for "mud flaps" protecting my coop from starlings trying to enter, but I remember thinking that @ChickCrazed 's method was ingenious! @Faraday40 --
Love the chick feeders! I've got to get to bed, but will looking at those more closely tomorrow. I think that @chick rookie made some basic feeders (not with pvc) out of plastic coffee containers and posted pics. It's great to see all of the creative ideas!

Got 1 chick so far,

5 more eggs to go...

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Ever have one of those days where you just want to find a corner to curl up in and wait for it to end? :/ Is it me, or are those days usually Mondays? Thank goodness for my chickens--don't know how I'd make it without them to cheer me up at the end of the day!

Early planning stages for next years chickenfest, you can join the planning here:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/909604/indiana-bycers-chickenfest-2015

 
Ok, I am thinking mid September. Yes or no's? taking a vote, and I will start looking for a northern location. Will post on our main thread also.
1. Plans are a swap, and maybe an auction on donated items like hatching eggs, even live birds. Swaps should be planned in advance and the owners responsibility. Chicken trains could also be worked out for the event.
2. @hoosiercheetah
is offering an auto door demo. Other topics?
3. Pitch in or possibly catered. (several food chains even offer catering packages, like subway) Food committee will plan this, and take votes, decide on menu. @Minminme
and possibly @barb s
Anyone interested in the food committee please holler! We need to plan for vegetarian members as well.
4. Time period...longer event, shorter? We all kinda felt it was too short!
Those 4 items will give us a good start on the new fest coming next year.

And just remembered also, campfire and smores!!!

I think I'll post my thoughts over on the Chickenfest thread, just to keep all that stuff together, eh?

They can free range together, but not be confined together. Hens can fly and outrun a pekin in a flash. If they are behind a fence, they may not be able to escape. I would talk to other call duck owners, and find out their experiences with chicken mingling.

Good point. I've been following the call duck thread, I guess that'd be the place to ask.

The bedding material in the coop, shavings may be ok.. IF you don't offer water inside. If you do, use a container with a screen top to place the waterer on. Every time a duck drinks, half of it goes out the sides of their beaks. They also have to dunk their heads as part of the grooming process. Sand, then shavings may be a better idea. Will the floor be dirt? That for me is a better choice. Deep litter is a definite plus with good drainage.
Everything else you shared looks great!!

Yeah, I was going to keep their food and water in that covered section next to the coop, not inside the coop. Definitely have read enough on nasty wet bedding from water in the coop with ducks!

The floor will be wooden, probably coated thoroughly in this waterproof paint stuff. I don't remember the name for sure, something like Blackjack 47? Or something? Anyway, I've been looking into that. It supposedly will totally waterproof the floor and I'm going to put some up the walls a ways if I do go for that. We usually use latex barn paint with our coops, but this will be the first coop for waterfowl, so I'm thinking we may need a bit more protection.

I can look at doing a dirt floor like we did with the coop addition. It wasn't too difficult, but then the coop would be immobile, and one of the things mom and I discussed was putting runners on the bottom so the coop could move if the location didn't work out or something.

[rule]

Odd, it didn't pick up your post..? Anyway, I just wanted to say congrats on the baby! My heart has been longing for black Cochin bantams since I lost my 'big boy', Po. Although this year won't be a good year for me adding any birds... But if anyone has a well behaved Cochin bantam boy that needs a new home next spring, I'd definitely be interested!

The big man, Po, rest his soul:

Look, he was itsy bitsy once, too!

Um, who is building your coops?

You know what I meant.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

My ducks return to the original run they grew up in at least 4 times a day. I feed them in the chicken run with the chickens so my goats do not get any of the feed. I have 2 mallards and 2 Pekins. Every morning and at least once in the evening, the mallards are waiting at the entrance to get in. The poor flightless Pekins are having a fit because they can not fly over the gate to get over there with them. I think you will be surprised at how willingly they will go back to the duck house at night if that is their routine. I too am one of those people who has to count every animal before they can officially be put up. I have 30 chickens, 4 ducks, 6 goats, a pig, and my 2 Great Pyrenees. The counting has probably saved a few chickens from spending the night out of the coop. It also alerted me that one of my bantam pullets was missing when I first got the chickens back in April. We devised a search mission and my daughter found her, about 20 mins into the search, deep in the wooded area, outside the fenced in area. She defiantly would not have survived the night at 8 weeks old in the woods. My ducks love to sleep in their kiddie pool but during the Winter it will be put up and brought out only on warmer days. I am sure my ducks are going to feel abused and neglected this Winter with out 24/7 access to the kiddie pool. Good Luck on your duck adventure and I look forward to learning how your set up works and hearing all your duck stories when you get them.

Yeah, counting has saved a few of my hens, too! We are in the middle of a 20-or-so acre woods and have an abundance of raccoons, so the coops have to be locked up tight every night without fail! I can picture the duckies feeling the neglect, but I definitely will not be leaving the kiddie pool out all winter, either. I got a rubber feed pan (this one, or something similar at least) to let them wash their faces off during winter which I will probably be refilling multiple times a day as is. But we'll see. I'm sure I'll have plenty of tales of horror to tell once they get here.

I only had ducks for a short time this year before we sold them, but I can tell you they love water. Put your waterer where 1) You can refill it easily 2) When it spills, the area around it can get wet and not hurt anything. Have you thought of where to put a little kiddy pool/bathtub for them too? I've seen designs where the pool are is inside the run, which seems convenient. I really like it when people use bathtubs, as you can run some plumbing so when you drain it, the water goes elsewhere and it looks super easy to clean. Just make sure you have it located near a hose so you can clean and re-fill 1x-2x daily. Ducks seem to love making a mess with water. It's really cute Check the tub out at the end of the video here. Such a great idea! He also explains how he made it in this video.

Yup, I have the place all scouted out. Mom and I looked over the area again today, so I now know just how badly out of scale this picture is, but the blue circle in this picture is in the vicinity of where the kiddie pool will go in relation to where the coop is, and their waterer is probably going to be under the shelter (brown square) next to the coop:

The water spout would be just outside the picture to the right, not much of a walk at all, and the hose will reach with little issue during the summer.

Hey guys, how do you over winter ducks? We have 3 khaki campbells. I'm planning on putting their coop in the barn this year. I am more curious about the water situation. We have cookie tin heaters for out poultry waterers, but ducks have to clean out their nares. So... how do you handle the water situation for ducks in the winter?

I'd like to add, is there a certain amount of time that they should have access to deeper water? Like, if I have a gravity waterer with them so they can drink at all times and just refill their mini-tub for bathing twice a day so they can wash their faces, is that sufficient?

 

[bradselig]

When I search for info on this event, I always get results for Wolf's Animal Swap in [COLOR=333333]Ligonier, IN. Are these events one in the same? If they are separate, I just need the address to add it to the Map/Calendar and put it on my radar for 2015 dates to add. Thanks![/COLOR]

They are seperate events. The address is in the screen shot, right after the directions. I missed it the first time as well. I'm not sure if the address is considered silver lake, north manchester, wabash, etc. maybe @CluckAcres can tell us more about it. I know he has attended it before.

 

[bradselig]

So I finally hatched my first chick with wry neck. It was from shipped eggs and such a cute fluffy bantam Cochin. I've been syringing water to keep it hydrated and a couple drops of poly vi sol several times a day. I have to keep him in a smaller food storage container lined with rolled up wash cloths to keep him from rolling over. I think today is day 3 with no improvement what so ever. It will not eat so may have to start moistening and mashing feed to try that.

Any suggestions? I'd really hate to cull it if it has a chance but I also hate to see it suffer.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Another section I'd like to add is Chicken Therapy. If you have anything to share on this topic, please post it! I first started reading about this topic this year, and Backyard Poultry Mag did have a good article on it called Feathered Therapy. (If you don't have a subscription see my trick here to read the article anyways) Are your chickens therapeutic? Do your kids/grandkids find them therapeutic? @Mother2Hens
 had a good post on being zen with the chickens, but I couldn't find it in recent posts.

Oh, chicken therapy! As you may have been able to tell from one of my posts above, chicken therapy is the only thing that keeps me going some days! I have a wide variety of personalities in my flock, from the super needy to the cuddlers to the ones that could care less to even a few that avoid me like the plague, but even so, just watching them as they go on their merry way, especially when out during free range... I don't have words. There's something so soothing about watching a flock of chickens set to work foraging, or dig into a dust bath, or even just sit around and preen.

What I have found most comforting over the years is that it's not just one way. Though I am sure some days my girls are sick of my presence (except the cuddlers and the attention hogs ), I do genuinely feel as if they all miss me if I haven't been out with them as much. I recall a couple years ago, during a semester in which I felt particularly stressed, I hadn't done much more with the birds than I had to. It occurred to me that I may have felt more stressed because I was not getting my allotted chicken therapy time, but it was a rough patch I was going through. Well, I finally decided I needed time with the girls, and when I went out to the chicken yard, something rather remarkable happened. Not only did the needy ones and the cuddlers come over to see me, but the longer I stood there, the more birds gathered around. That included the few that will flee from me if I try to pet them! They just all gathered at my feet or climbed up next to me for my attention. I truly believe my girls like me, maybe not as much as I like them, but at the very least they do like me a bit.

It's as my mom was saying just yesterday, when we were out with the girls. She was sitting with miss Kate on her lap, and I was picking up and cuddling whichever ones came by to see me. Mom turned to me and said, "I can't imagine not having this," and she gestured around to the miscellaneous birds around us. And I can't imagine it, either. It's a good life.


And there I go on a crazy chicken lady ramble again. Don't mind me.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

So I finally hatched my first chick with wry neck. It was from shipped eggs and such a cute fluffy bantam Cochin. I've been syringing water to keep it hydrated and a couple drops of poly vi sol several times a day. I have to keep him in a smaller food storage container lined with rolled up wash cloths to keep him from rolling over. I think today is day 3 with no improvement what so ever. It will not eat so may have to start moistening and mashing feed to try that.

Any suggestions? I'd really hate to cull it if it has a chance but I also hate to see it suffer.

Oh, poor baby! I found a few good sources about wry neck a while back, give me a few to see if I can find them for you!

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Vitamin E Deficiency: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...y-and-crazy-chick-disease-photos-added-post-5

This is what I was thinking of! Try to find some Vitamin E to give the little one and see if it helps. I'm also seeing where Selenium is necessary to absorb vitamin E, so you might want to look into that.

Also, wry neck--the treatment is similar, and this treatment was used with success in a wry neck chick: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...ze-updated-with-great-results/10#post_4698410


And finally, I didn't think of it before, but make sure your Poly-Vi-Sol is the kind without iron, as the iron is bad on the little birdies.

Kabhyper - it sounds to me like 'star gazing', which if I'm remembering correctly is a form of wry neck and is usually treated the same way. Silkies are prone to both star gazing and wry neck, which explains why only your Silkie chicks are affected by it.

First of all, if they are on medicated feed, take them off it now as this can make the condition worse. The Amprolium in medicated feed is a thiamine blocker, and having a deficiency of thiamine (or vitamin B1) is one of the causes of this condition.

They need vitamins E and B1, and Selenium to aid in the absorption of vitamin E. This post has a dosing regimen in it that was successful for this person's bird: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...ze-updated-with-great-results/10#post_4698410

These are two posts in response to Kab last year when she had a chick with wry neck and/or star gazing. Hope this helps, Brad!