INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[CCCCCCCCHICKENS]

Here are some pictures from the Ohio Nationals.

The open show awards


This is mainly chickens, i think their were a few guineas and call ducks. They had another barn with geese, ducks, and turkeys.


Trader's Area




Some of my birds. I never realiazied how bad my picture taking is, so I am going to start making them stand and pose for them versus just running by and snapping a picture, so that I don't make them look so bad lol

White Plymouth Rock Cockerel


Blue Ameraucana pullet (she layed her first egg at the show)


Blue Ameraucana pullet


Black ameraucana cockerel


Splash ameraucana pullet


Splash ameraucana pullet


Splash Ameraucana pullet


The egg color washed out in the picture, but it is actually a pretty nice blue


New Birds

Salmon Favorolle pullet. I don't name birds very often, but this is Charlie. She was my fun buy


New LF white rock pullet


This one I got at Lebanon. White plymouth rock pullet




White plymouth rock bantam Cockerel


3 very young black ameraucana pullets



I went out in the Barn and was walking buy pens and went in the one with my bantam plymouth rock bantams. My extra cockerel has just vanished. This is a strictly inside pen, no outside run. I looked around for him, he must be a really really really good hider or some how he found out how to get out.

 

[PeacefulWalls]

I have some and know a little about them. One is pregnant and I wanted to know how long the babies have to stay on the mom

I have a rabbit that is getting ready to have babies in a week or so would you put a heat lamp or regular bulb in the hutch or just leave it be.

As with chickens there's not just one way to do things & rabbit breeders each have their own way to do things. This is what we've done for the past 8 years: Nest boxes go in on day 28. Average gestation is 31 days. We've had some go sooner, some later. When the doe starts pulling fur & lining the nest we know she's starting to get ready to deliver and we go out to the barn to check on her pretty frequently -- about every 15 minutes. (If the doe doesn't pull enough fur you may need to supplement.) When she starts delivering we usually try to be out there watching. We've had a couple does (usually our smaller breeds) have trouble in the past with having a large kit get stuck and I've had to help deliver a number of babies. Once the babies are born and the doe has hopped out of the nest box we pull the box out, count the live kits, take out any dead kits and clean up whatever mess might be in there. Occasionally some kits have been born in the front of the nest box and weren't able to crawl into the fur lined portion of the box. If we weren't right there to help them they would have chilled or froze to death, depending on the barn temp. Unless it's in the warmer spring or summer months, we bring the nestboxes into the house. The doe won't be ready to nurse the babies for about 24 hours so we wait that long to take them out. We've tried giving does their babies much earlier than that, but they are rarely ready or interested to nurse at that point. Sometimes we do have to encourage the doe to nurse even after 24 hours. Once she done it, though, her milk seems to really come in & she's really ready for the future nursings. The babies can get by with once a day feedings, so we try to take them out at the same time every day. We always check the babies' tummies after nursing to make sure they're all nice & fat. They sometimes seem to double in size with their full tummies. We're also making sure everyone has gotten fed. Sometimes there are kits that don't seem to have nursed as much, so we try to take them to the mom later on alone so they don't get pushed away. We have brought does into the house when it's really cold to flip her on her back & hold her so the thin kits can lay on her belly & nurse. Once the kits have opened their eyes (around day 10 - 12) we take them back out to the barn to stay with mom. By that point they are a decent size and fairly well furred. Once the babies are jumping in & out of the nest box well on their own we take the boxes out of the cage & they hang out with mom. Weaning sometimes happens as early as 4 weeks, but usually around 6 - 8 weeks (some babies will try to nurse as long as you let them with mom.) We've had some moms get tired of having their babies with them. When the mom starts trying to mount her kids you know you need to get them out of the cage (happens sometimes with our smaller breeds.) Good luck with the coming babies!

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

I have a friend asking to buy goose eggs for consumption. Does anybody near Indy have geese that are laying?

Geese lay usually starting in march thru late june. Very short window... Most who keep rarely part with the eggs. With such a short breeding season every egg is hatched. I wont hatch many this year, so I will probably have some in March.

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Quote:
thats best to try first. Watch them closely.

I can only help a little bit. they shouldnt have swelled eyes from stress unless they are carriers all ready . the will "break out" in times of stress. they sound nothing like mg birds and my guess would be an allergy . is there something different where you moved them to? fumes, paint cans , ect.... I hope i am telling you right but i have dealt with the mgs and it just dont sound that way to me.

Major temp changes, rain. Dampness and sudden cold. there is a lot of things that compromise a birds health right now. Each one will react differently. I deal with a large flock, but see ill birds pretty fast. The first day they seem off, react to it. Being a prey animal, you wont know they are truly ill till its very advanced.

 

[CharlemagneRoost]

I spoke to our county poultry lady, I forget what she does, but she was super nice. She is the one who knows what diseases are going around, purdue extension office gave me her number. Anyway she said there is a bacterial thing that isn't a huge deal and isn't mg going around that has respiratory symptoms. I have a hen that gets swollen eyes in dusty conditions that isn't mg. Just like us, they can get irritated mucous membranes and reactions to environmental changes. I always jump to worse case scenario, but not everything is deadly. Tylan or anothr antibiotic could still help, because the irritation could be caused by a bacteria. Anyway just thought I would pass that along. Hope she gets better soon.

Thank you to each person who has responded so helpfully! I think that I did jump to the worst possible conclusion and that it may simply be a reaction to the cage cleaning I did yesterday. The timing is right for that - especially since they were displaying absolutely no symptoms prior to that and it seems that eyes are the only thing being affected. In the three years that I have been raising poultry, this is my first encounter with a health issue, and I panicked. :/

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Well I am just beside myself! I tried to do a head count before the rain began today and I have lost 2 of my grown Black Copper Marans hens to predators this past week! A few days after I posted about my Silkie roo getting attacked by the hawk I saw what I thought to be a fox tail disappear into the woods. ..I sent my dog after it and he went far as I could hear him barking but came back empty handed. While he was chasing I was immediately walking the trail in search of a chicken hoping it dropped it..no such luck! My dog lead me to the feathers and I just found trails and clusters of them!

I don't know when the second was taken.

I have lost 4 grown birds now along with about 10 from spring hatches! This is not a good sign! This all in a matter of 2 months! My neighbor informed me she's seen the fox too and has had 2 of hers vanish..she only had 6 new ones after all hers had been picked off over this spring/summer..she's down to 4 now. I know we should pen them but I hate that!

Anyway!
Turkey Day fast approaching and I am already stressing out about getting our house in tip top shape! I normally take this week off but my coworker did and so I couldn't! That doesn't help! Soo I'm barking at every other person in the house to do their part..needless to say I'm not very liked at the moment! Lol!

LOL yep, I am stressing too. I have mi INlaw thurs and ours Sunday. Already have all the stuff but everyone wants computer stuff fixed along the way.

Oh forgot to share...as I sat in the dining room Thursday maybe I saw my Peacock with his neck all puffed out strutting towards the tree line following him was a puffed up Peahen and following her was then a puffed up Peachick...cute but I just knew there was a reason. .sure enough there flying off was another hawk!

Can't help but wonder if the animals of prey know something we don't! Bad winter coming perhaps? !

Hawks are afraid of peas, geese, guinea and adult turkeys.

Quote: I've never had one like this before either. They usually molt in "stages" so that parts of them are covered and parts are in pins and the feathers that are there kind of keep things covered.

I actually had to bring her in last week to the hospital pen inside the house as it was obvious that the quick drop to the near single digits was just too much. I put her out again yesterday when it got in the 40s but I don't think these feathers are going to come in quick enough to be much help when it drops down into the 20s again on Monday night.

Monday low 26; tuesday high 30 and low 20...so depending on how she looks she may have to come back in which I'm trying to avoid as it will be hard to re-acclimate.

If I try to pick her up it hurts her so I've been trying to kind of "herd" her gently where I need her to go.

She is feeling much better than she was last week but she's got a ways to go to get back to par. Been giving her ground raw meat 2x/day at least and that's about the only thing she'll eat.
I have a BA hen bald with nothing but pins. She is in my porch, poor girl. feeding beef liver to get her feathers back.

 

[CCCCCCCCHICKENS]

At the ohio nationals I purchased (but did not recurve because it had to be made) a personalized farm windows cling. They said it would be ready in a week and the week was over a week ago. I can't for the life of me remember the name of the booth and they didn't have a phone number displayed. It wasn't a lot money but I am still pretty mad.

 

[Granny Hatchet]

Thank you to each person who has responded so helpfully! I think that I did jump to the worst possible conclusion and that it may simply be a reaction to the cage cleaning I did yesterday. The timing is right for that - especially since they were displaying absolutely no symptoms prior to that and it seems that eyes are the only thing being affected. In the three years that I have been raising poultry, this is my first encounter with a health issue, and I panicked.

Im real good at that. (panic) I read others posts and some times see the problem but when it comes to mine i have no idea. LOL

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Glad to see @SallyinIndiana and @racinchickins today. Thanks very much for my gracious hosts. Excited to add my mini white turkey trio for next year. Fell in love with the sumatra at sallys! Very attractive bird.

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

and goodnite all! off to bed