INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[Chaneys Ranch]

Quote: Yes, I feed fermented, and also offer dry full time as choice. They eat both readily. When turkeys are growing up, they need full access to feed all the time, unless a BB variety.
I no longer free range the turkeys with chickens. Way too many issues with adult birds. The turkey hens eventually think all chicken roosters must die

and its always the nicer roos. Every turkey hen here has acted this way! Had too many close calls recently, not worth the risk.

Some photos of the 18 week old SFH.


3 Sisters:




Black 1. She doesn't have brown in the hackles but has a lot of "blue sheen".






Black Band. She has brown in the hackles.









"Brown"

​

Lovely hens! Just adore the colors.

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Quote:

hatching vibes!

1300 posts behind...work, chickens, dogs, repeat.

Hope everyone is doing well.

With this crazy weather my I've been noticing some sniffling with my peeps. I'm praying to the fowl gods that it's nothing.

Okay, catch up time!

Ugh hear ya, very busy getting ready for winter, and redoing my main coop. I have some sneezes here too, noticed it one of the barred rock pullets. All this sudden damp and cold seems to trigger it!

Quote: I do freeze if i get extras backed up too. Need to start doing it since winters coming! I poke the yolks and freeze in ice cube trays. All my extras are going to the piglets right now to get them chubby for winter.

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

On selling eggs....
If my husband tells folks at his workplace that we have eggs we have too many customers for the eggs we can produce. I could have 100 chickens and sell all the eggs every week.

Might ask him to let folks know you have them...especially any folks that might be "health-conscious" and would want eggs that aren't irradiated (as in store-bought eggs).

I never have too many either. DH's workplace alone I could sell out. I do barter and trade eggs a lot for veges and other stuff. The nurse at my moms dialysis and I trade eggs and her garden veges every week.

Here's an odd question:

I walked in the coop to feed the girls this morning, and my larger RIR hen, Benehime (It's Japanese for 'crimson princess'), squawked like a dinosaur in the movies. The cats followed me in, and Benny made an even more horrifying noise. Seriously, it didn't seem like a noise that a hen should be able to make. Then she flitted a short way off and lay on a pile of eggs in a different nest box and made another weird noise. She started checking over the eggs that weren't under her and turning them around with her beak. She was hatched April 1st of this year. .

I was worried because of that respiratory problem a couple others had (no one else has come down with anything still. The other one that was sick has made what looks to be a full recovery), but it doesn't seem like Benny girl has any gurgling in her chest. She's just making really weird noises

This is my first year around chickens. Please give me some good news.

X5 i think(?) BROODY! My Australorps are all still broody, 2 of them are trying to hatch air. Really do not want anymore chicks this year.

wow - more broody hens - must be "broody hen month" - i forgot to check my calender to see if it was broody hen holiday or something
:- )

I found another egg stash Monday in the bantam pen, hidden behind a roost bar support. I snatched them up quick! No more chicks, UGH.

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Quote: I tried freezing a few but they did not make great scrambled eggs. I'm not sure if they would work for baking things like pizza crust or bread.

On selling eggs....
If my husband tells folks at his workplace that we have eggs we have too many customers for the eggs we can produce. I could have 100 chickens and sell all the eggs every week.

Might ask him to let folks know you have them...especially any folks that might be "health-conscious" and would want eggs that aren't irradiated (as in store-bought eggs).

My Dh tried to put the word out where he works but his place is on the lower end of the pay scale. So many people there just can't or won't pay more than $1 at the store. Then they think my dozen of jumbo duck eggs should cost less. I told DH I would rather give my eggs to my chickens or people I like than to sell them at 50 cents a dozen and not even get a carton back. I understand his coworkers thinking. About 3 years before we had chickens I did not want to pay more than the price at the store. I thought if I was going to pay cash up front that the eggs should be cheaper or at least the same price. Little did I know how much the feed cost or the effort to keep their pens safe. There are a lot of costs to raising chickens.


Agreed, I had some memory of how good Gramma's eggs were but yikes! Now I realize the cost behind it. Its more important to me now that I raise our own.

I see.

This mamma let me be around her and her chicks with no problem. And the chicks that she raised were SFH the first time and the second time 2 mixes and Miss Tilly.

The main thing I'm frustrated with her about is that when she's done with them...one day she's taking care of them and the next she drives them away. But she did keep them for 13 weeks!

Bunny my EE didn't seem to turn her chicks away, they just stopped following her. They are pretty social, since Bunny is always first when the buckets come out!

Quote:

Out of ovations, this is a great post! I completely forgot about the website.

Quote: Interesting! I am still getting scovy eggs, I would sure love it if these broody hens could hatch some. 35 days is a long time tho!

 

[bradselig]

So I'm trying to keep up with the thread! Started new job yesterday. After the first day I was thinking, "What the hell did I do?" Lol. It was only 4 hrs but apparently they weren't ready for me. The district manager didn't have me in the system. So the manager training me tried and messed it up. So she called the IT help desk and then handed me the phone. She said once someone answers hand me the phone. I was on hold for 1.5 hrs waiting for someone to pick up!
We finally got it all straightened out, and by the time I finished up with the paperwork for employment, it was time to go. So today was the first full 10hr day (I'm not used to more than the 8hr work days at lowes. It was a killer lol. I again waited around the first 15 mins. Finally I asked the asst manager if I could help her with anything. I started helping with freight and they finally got all my employee ID info. So they put me on register. The assistant manager showed me how to process a the first sale and told me if I need any help just come find her and she walked away!
So I was shown once how to run a transaction and was set on my own. I guess it's a good thing I pickup in things fast and not afraid to try lol. I wasn't sure if I was doing things right, but figure that's their fault for not staying up with me. Atleast my drawer came out correct at the end of the day lol. Thankfully after lunch it was more hands on and I wasn't stuck on register the whole night.

It's definitely different. Not sure if it's good or bad. I know it's always hard the first week or so to get used to, I guess I was expecting a little more coaching but I guess I am forced to learn it quicker this way lol.

 

[Indyshent]

My broody disappeared the same day I saw her on the nest. Came back later that night, and she was just gone. No clue where she is

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

In my quest to make my life easier this winter and go down to two pens, I started merging my layer flock and Bielefelder flock yesterday by free ranging them together. Heiser the roo is just beside himself with happiness at the 9 new ladies and I just couldn't be happier about his demeaner and behavior. He is just such a good boy. It is fun to see them all out there together.

I heard him sound the alarm once yesterday and got over there in time to see a rabbit go streaking through the flock. He was a super good boy about keeping an eye out for "threats". He was out there picking up and bringing treats to all the girls, running around like mad trying to get them all. Then last night at bed time Heiser called his Bielie ladies back to the coop and I could see him standing in the run looking perplexed at the fact that the layer flock didn't heed his call. He couldn't figure out how to wrangle the rest of them. He finally gave up. It may take some "training" lol.

Operation barn kitty is going well. Maggie, Beth and Herschel were installed in the barn on Wednesday and all three are letting me pet them and coming running for food. Thus far I haven't seen them "earning their keep" yet but they will get a pass for a week or so before I start calling them names. I can't WAIT to start seeing them killing those tiny jerk mice!!!!

I am enjoying this nice Fall weather! I hope it sticks around a while! Hope everyone else is doing well!

I merged flocks also, minimal issues.. my Millie fluer roo thinks he is master of all in the bantam/growup coop. Lil stinker! The OEGB just roll their eyes, and go about their day. He even intimidates the silkie roos, a couple are 3x his size.
Sounds like the kittens are precious. They will figure it out soon enough!

For you guinea folks...thought you might enjoy this. I sure paints a comical picture

http://naturalchickenkeeping.blogspot.com/2014/09/guineafowl.html

I laughed so hard I had tears! They really get better as they mature. First year, gees they spook over anything, even the wind! My mature adults, I rarely hear them. I do find you need pairs. If you don't keep even number of male and female, you find infertile eggs, or flighty hens.

 

[PeacefulWalls]

Interesting! I am still getting scovy eggs, I would sure love it if these broody hens could hatch some. 35 days is a long time tho!

I read that (at least for the anconas) it's only 28 days to hatch. I'm hoping this is right and not 35 -- I agree that that's waaay too long!! I also hope it's not going to be a problem hatching this late in the year, but those little duckies sure do grow fast!

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

So I'm trying to keep up with the thread! Started new job yesterday. After the first day I was thinking, "What the hell did I do?" Lol. It was only 4 hrs but apparently they weren't ready for me. The district manager didn't have me in the system. So the manager training me tried and messed it up. So she called the IT help desk and then handed me the phone. She said once someone answers hand me the phone. I was on hold for 1.5 hrs waiting for someone to pick up!
We finally got it all straightened out, and by the time I finished up with the paperwork for employment, it was time to go. So today was the first full 10hr day (I'm not used to more than the 8hr work days at lowes. It was a killer lol. I again waited around the first 15 mins. Finally I asked the asst manager if I could help her with anything. I started helping with freight and they finally got all my employee ID info. So they put me on register. The assistant manager showed me how to process a the first sale and told me if I need any help just come find her and she walked away!
So I was shown once how to run a transaction and was set on my own. I guess it's a good thing I pickup in things fast and not afraid to try lol. I wasn't sure if I was doing things right, but figure that's their fault for not staying up with me. Atleast my drawer came out correct at the end of the day lol. Thankfully after lunch it was more hands on and I wasn't stuck on register the whole night.

It's definitely different. Not sure if it's good or bad. I know it's always hard the first week or so to get used to, I guess I was expecting a little more coaching but I guess I am forced to learn it quicker this way lol.

Oh no... hope things are better going forward. That's a little disappointing that things were not ready for you. It may be they are testing your skills too, and integrity just FYI. My former boss would do that exact thing to see how a new supervisor handled stress and a disorganized situation.

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Thought I'd post this here too as some may be interested. (I also posted in the Natural Chicken Keeping thread.)

...........

Some musings on GM/Glyphosate
You know I have posted in the past that I'm wondering if glyphosate (common name: roundup) may be a bigger issue (or at least as big) as the GM grains. In fact, I've wondered if that is the main issue rather than the GM but I'm just "wondering" based on the research I've read and common-sense deduction.

When a plant is GM, it is engineered to be able to withstand a higher level of glyphosate and other herbicides so that it can survive while the weeds are not able to withstand it. (Of course we are starting to have roundup resistant super weeds but that's a different subject.) The glyphosate is taken INTO the plant...it doesn't just reside "ON" the plant. Glyphosate has been proven to cause reproductive problems in humans and animals among other things (such as leaky gut, for example).

Anyhow...interesting article regarding glyphosate and "celiac" or "gluten sensitivity" that I thought I'd share for anyone that may be interested.

"Hi-lights" of the article:

Good day, IN BYCers! We've got a pleasant, but somewhat cool Sunday and I'm stuck inside in front of my computer trying to get a freelance web project moving forward. Since I've become involved in raising poultry, I find it a challenge to apply myself in the tech world, where I once felt so at home. :/

I recently have applied for a govt account/permit to be able to import hatching eggs internationally. Has anyone else on this thread done this, and if so, approximately how long did it take for you to get your permit?



Back to web development I go ... Cheerio!

Awesome, good luck with your project! I am aware of very few people doing this, have heard its quite a challenge to get the permits, let alone the tariff expenses.
And btw the boys are awesome guys. Thanks again, my leghorn hens like them very much.

I haven't had a lot to do this weekend, so I thought I'd go back and reread some of the earlier posts on this thread. Talk about a blast from the past! Between Brad talking about wanting to some day get Silkies and M2H posting in black--not color!--and so many people who no longer post here anymore, I hardly recognized the place!

It's pretty clear to me, though, that a lot of good information has been shared here and everyone has learned a LOT since this thread started!

Pretty cool to go back and see what all was posted even before I joined in on the thread (which was later than I thought, page 414!). Go, Indiana BYC'ers!!

LOL, its funny you posted this. I did look back when Cluckacres, rstr101 and I got things going so long ago. So many faces I miss. Really miss vickichicki and oldsalt too.

I need some help from some of you have kept chickens longer then I have. My chicken Big Momma has been going through what I thought was a molt for 6 weeks now. She has not laid at all in this time. She has separated herself from the flock at night and is terrified of my bantam rooster but not my LF rooster, she runs to him for protection. My coop is left open at night and she sleeps on the floor under it. My Great Pyrenees keeps predators away patrolling the border of their run. I am getting a little worried that she is sick and not molting, here is pics of her from today. She is supposedly 3 years old but I am not sure, I got her in April from a local person who wanted to trade some chicks for her.





Here pics of her before she started looking this way

She is s lovely girl. I almost wonder if she hasn't picked up feather mites. If the shaft and feathers appear stripped thats what it is. Garden grade seven dust will kill the mites.

With all the talk about broody hens, I was wondering if there was a way to encourage a hen to go broody?

In April one happened to go broody. No matter how many times I kicked her off the nest, she found her way back. I eventually gave her a few practice eggs which hatched. She became a great Mom & even foster Mom. Just wondering if she'll do it again. (She's a mixed breed white hen.)

Broody hens look for an egg stash. Let a nest pile up and she will do the rest.

I also find that the easiest way to break a broody is to give her eggs and let her set for a week or so. They I'll take the eggs away and toss her out of the coop. Typically works pretty well, except for one silkie hen I have. She's been broody all summer!

Agreed, I also crate them, little room, just enough for food and water. a week usually does it, I rarely have a crate free tho.