INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[ellymayRans]

I know this looks like a bad example! ! Hahaha! This little lover prefers sleeping on my laptop! But I only feed ours once in the evening and even then only a half a cup a piece. They are excellent mousers and other critters!

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

I have to say that there were very few ameraucanas there period that I was impressed with. A blue wheaten or two but that was it.

The reason I think the youth barn birds had a calmer personality is because kids tend to coddle their birds like pets. MOST adult exhibitors don't. Though that doesn't mean they care about them any less. Some people have a very, what i would call, professional relationship with their birds. Sorry you can't go! And thank you

[COLOR=900000]Did you see the 'Silver Ameraucana' male in the open show that looked more like a black Easter-egger with brassy leakage? Handsome guy, but not exactly as advertised. :/ I didn't see how he was judged. There really weren't many Ams overall, were there?

That's what mom and I were thinking, on the junior show. I definitely don't think that just because some don't treat their birds like pets means they care less about them! I just was more taken by the junior show birds because they were friendlier. (And those OEGBs particularly, they're just so tiny. ) Oh, if I had the space and money... [/COLOR]

 

[ellymayRans]

[COLOR=900000]A few ducky pictures for the evening. These two are too cute!

Trudi:[/COLOR]

[COLOR=900000]Malcolm, chilling. Thus far, Trudi has been a lot more spastic than Malcolm--except when they're in the water, because Malcolm goes nuts. [/COLOR]

[COLOR=900000]Snack time! Malcolm's such a hog and dumps feed all over! They're so sweet together, though. Malcolm will start eating and quack to Trudi, and then they'll have their meal together while chattering the whole time. You can really tell how much these birds rely on each other's company. They never do anything without the other one close by![/COLOR]

[COLOR=900000]We're almost done with the duck coop, just a few little details left to secure it. Hopefully, the duckies will pass quarantine in a few more weeks and can move over there immediately. Although, we probably should put the run fence up first.

All this building plus classes and homework and winter preparations and general animal care has me fatigued here lately. But I'm alright. Hope everyone else is doing well as well. [/COLOR]

They look so tiny and definitely adorable!

I have been watching the Peahen and babies together so much everyday and they just tickle me to death! I've never had a hen allow a juvenile to adopt them as their mother. I don't mean just be around but she can't even walk without them each on a side! Literally touching her sides walking as if one! I guess the big girl knows rain is on it's way because she roosted in the big coop with the babes instead of the roof tonight.

 

[CCCCCCCCHICKENS]

[COLOR=900000]Did you see the 'Silver Ameraucana' male in the open show that looked more like a black Easter-egger with brassy leakage? Handsome guy, but not exactly as advertised. :/ I didn't see how he was judged. There really weren't many Ams overall, were there?

That's what mom and I were thinking, on the junior show. I definitely don't think that just because some don't treat their birds like pets means they care less about them! I just was more taken by the junior show birds because they were friendlier. (And those OEGBs particularly, they're just so tiny. ) Oh, if I had the space and money... [/COLOR]

Yes, I saw him! Terrible is all I can say lol. You would think an adut would know better......wel i guess I doesn't necessarily hve to be an adult as kids can show in an open show-you just don't see it as much. I like open shows much better-harder competition. And there really weren't that many AMs. There were only 3 in the junior show that weren't mine and there was only like 6 in the open show. I am just talking LF. I scratched my only bantam am and didn't really look at them.and did you hear that annoying guinea on the youth barn! Most annoying repetitive noise I have ever heard in my life!

 

[SallyinIndiana]

@SallyinIndiana

I've always wondered about those sound devices...if they would hurt the chicken's ears?

I'm not sure. I wondered enough that last hatching season I unplugged the sound devices while I was brooding. This year I'm not planning on it. If I notice the chicks just dying or acting strange I will consider it. But I would also consider moving just the chicks out of the sound device area. Yet I'm sure a mouse getting into the nice warm chick brooder box and transmitting a sickness would be worse than an annoying sound. It would be a hard call to blame the sound devices.

A mouse infestation as described above is hard to picture until you have been there. Mice cute or not really bother me. I have multiple rat zappers, the sound devices, and cats. I hope that the kitten I got catches mice soon. So far she is concentrating her efforts on spiders and grasshoppers. Our house had sat empty for a while before we moved in and the last guy really did not care about mice in the barn. By the time we moved in we could not leave anything in our barn. It was so bad that the mice would crawl into DH's textbook if he left it in his car parked next to the barn. Dh would find tails in his books the next day when he went to get the book. I'm not sure how a mouse could get into the book but not get out but they would rip off their own tails in hopes of a paper supper. And the smell, ohh I would not even go into the barn.

Currently we have lots of chickens and still the mice are not even 1/100 of what was in that barn before we put out poison and traps. We did not have chickens then and DH got the dirty job of picking up the bodies. So I can't speak to the evils of poison as it worked great for me, the one who got her barn back almost mouse free. I know there are still a few here and there as we live basically surrounded by fields.

 

[Kassafrass]

I have been so lazy about getting a container for the chicken feed...I've e just been trusting our cat to take care of them for me. NO MORE after reading about hundreds of mice!! Ugh!!!

 

[Kassafrass]

Since EEs are basically mixed breeds, it can be hard to predict with laying.  And now the daylight getting shorter every day is another factor inhibiting laying.  I had some girls hatched in March last year that didn't lay until this spring.  If your birds are healthy, and getting good food, they will lay when they are ready.

It is definitely possible to have a roo go for kids but not adults.  They are closer in size to the chicken, so he may think he can dominate them where he won't try with you.  I personally will process any roo that shows human aggression because I have friends that bring their kids over and I don't want any incidents.   

Thank you VERY much, racinchickins! I gave them to our neighbors (who will process them) today. They ganged up on our favorite rooster (who is super sweet) and cut him. And thanks also for the egg advice...i was getting kind of worried i would have to wait until then. I cant believe i have 6 hens in the backyard and still have to buy eggs...

 

[SallyinIndiana]

I have been so lazy about getting a container for the chicken feed...I've e just been trusting our cat to take care of them for me. NO MORE after reading about hundreds of mice!! Ugh!!!

I recommend the metal cans from the pet food section at Rural King, or the trash can section at TSC.

The mice that we found upon moving here were here due to the prior owner improperly storing pet food.

 

[Leahs Mom]

@SallyinIndiana
On the smell in the barn - were you able to get rid of that? Was your barn a dirt floor or cement?

So far I have had ZERO rodent issues but that's because of the way the hen shed is set up. Since they're going in the pole barn for winter that will be a whole new game. They will be fed inside. And it is easily accessible to rodents (unlike the hen shed). But I store all food inside the house in the basement so the storage area won't be an issue.

My sister in law works for folks that have chickens and they used the noise things. I'm not sure if they worked or not, honestly. There is an old one here in the garage that my dad put in there and I still catch mice in the garage (which I use for quarantine). So ... do they really work?

I really want to preempt and be proactive before there is an issue. That barn has never been used for animals so there was no draw except, perhaps, to get out of the weather. I was really hoping to hear that someone had used the bucket/pnut butter thing successfully but haven't really heard much good yet.

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

So I had an exciting Saturday, I was in the barn cleaning stalls when a couple of chickens came hurtling in and hit the hay stack. I went running outside just in time to see a small whitish hawk start flying back up into the sky. No chicken fatalities luckily. I have seen hawks flying all over out in my "hood" but this is the first time I have seen one go for my birds. It couldn't have been that much bigger than my chickens!!!! The chickens have been staying under cover since.

Operation barn kitty has been a failure so far. It appears I just got two extra mouths to feed and no payoff. I was excited when I started finding a corpse a day in the barn, then realized they were moles and not mice. I still told myself that at least my mole population was decreasing.....then spotted the female cat bringing a mole into my property from the field across the street......so basically she is bringing extra rodents INTO the barn.......

I finally reached a breaking point in my shed/coop. The mice have eaten into all of my plastic storage tubs and I have to throw all of my egg cartons, medications and supplies out. I can't reach into anything in either my shed or my barn without uncovering a nest and having at least 6 mice run out. It is freaking disgusting. My coop reeks of mouse droppings. There are a good 200 mouse pellets on my nest boxes in the coop the day after I clean. I was hoping the cats would help but I can't continue like this, i can't touch anything in my coop without worrying about catching a rodent carried disease. So I broke and put mouse poison in the loft of the shed/coop. It is safely out of reach of the chickens who are being strictly locked out of the open area of the shed for a while. There is obviously a risk of the chickens eating a mouse that has been poisoned but they have not shown any interest in eating mice so I am crossing my fingers and hoping for the best. I tried snap traps (too many mice, not even making a dent), buck traps (same thing), humane traps, homemade poison and cats (worthless).....it is my last ditch attempt to re-claim my shed. 24 hours after putting the poison out I had 13 mouse corpses clearly visible in the people part of the shed, I can only imagine how many more are in the loft or in the corners, under boxes etc. My shed will smell TERRIBLE for the next few weeks, but hopefully i can keep the rodent numbers manageable with the other control methods once I knock the population back.

I will feel terrible if I accidentally poison a chicken but am really at my wits end with the issue and am willing to risk it at this point.

They are terrible right now. One coop with a wood floor has holes chewed through it! I am sorry to hear you are fighting with it. The mice are eaten faster than they can breed in the coops, but I have a lotta chickens, and guinea are great at getting them too. I have had success with 2 non poisonous methods. Glue boards placed in areas the chickens wont get to, inside a cereal box for example. The 2nd is the 5 gallon bucket with a pvc pipe or stick. Hope someone can find that info, Mine was thrown away by mistake and I don't remember all the details. It really worked. My barn cat does well, but I went through dozens to find one good one that thrives here. One cat is not enough with so many fields around us for sure..