INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[bradselig]

Those are beautiful babies Brad.....are you planning on having sale birds or eggs at some point in the future? I would be interested later...

Thanks. I definitely will have some available this year. That pair is going on a year old and I have a buff hens thats 2 yrs old. This rooster is double barred, so all chicks crossed with the buff hen will be barred, roosters only having on copy of barring gene though. Then I will be having another young pair join the flock this spring. Late summer early fall I will be adding any chicks I get from this hatch. I'm hoping to add some frizzled to this flock.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

I think my Marans hen, Georgette, is running out of ink! Her egg from today next to one of her eggs from a week or two ago:

It is really pretty, though. I'm really loving the new color (and all speckly variations of it) for the egg basket!

Edited to fix something...

 

[hoosiercheetah]

I think my Marans hen, Georgette, is running out of ink! Her egg from today next to one of her eggs from a week or two ago:

It is really pretty, though. I'm really loving the new color (and all speckly variations of it) for the egg basket!

Edited to fix something...

I've seen that too, in my rir's eggs. It seems to come and go, I'm curious what causes the variation.

Also, are those huge eggs or do you have tiny hands?

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Pretty excited to be putting in another order with Paul smith. March 16th, just in time for spring break!

Jealous! What are you getting?

Flock For Sale

So, I'm back, but not for long. Only a couple people know my life situation... I'm going to do a quick fill in so that maybe you can better understand why I'm selling my flock.

[snip]

Thinking of you and sending positive thoughts your way.

x2 Hope life starts balancing out for you. Your birds are so gorgeous and I hope they all find good homes!

Anybody heard from Mother2Hens lately? Wonder how her DH's surgery went. 
How about VickiChickie, Hogster160 or Old Salt?  Anybody have updates on them?

I've been wondering the same. I think the last time M2H posted around my last post before my own hiatus, and I don't remember the last time the others were around! Really hoping all is going well for all of them and they've just been to busy to post.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

I've seen that too, in my rir's eggs. It seems to come and go, I'm curious what causes the variation.

Also, are those huge eggs or do you have tiny hands?

Bahaha, I think that was the camera, actually! It was doing some odd things to the shape of my hand in some of these pictures.

 

[hoosiercheetah]

Bahaha, I think that was the camera, actually! It was doing some odd things to the shape of my hand in some of these pictures.

http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/m/#publication?id=VM047

Stress causes pigment loss in brown eggs. According to them.

 

[kittydoc]

i don't know about sand but i do know i do not use straw as when it breaks down it harbors bacteria that can give humans farmers lung and as much as i love my hens i want to eliminate the risk to my health.
here's wikis description of it. Saccharopolyspora rectivirgula is a species of bacteria.[1] It is a Gram-positive rod. It was formerly known as Micropolyspora faeni.
Inhalation of the bacteria can cause the disease farmer's lung, a type of hypersensitivity pneumonitis. Handling hay bales increases exposure to the bacteria and increases the risk of developing the disease

Well, I guess 99% of farmers (small and large) must be doing it wrong, then.

Farmer's lung is an allergic illness caused by moldy hay, straw, etc. See http://nasdonline.org/document/1663/d001538/farmer-039-s-lung-it-takes-your-breath.html Any bedding (and any hay as well) can harbor bacteria, fungi, hazardous insects--depends on where it comes from and how it is stored and maintained. Even sand, if it is over dirt (not so much if over a solid surface and has good drainage). The oils in pine shavings that make them smell so good can be toxic if ingested, and even if there is too much contact (especially if pine shavings get wet). We have used nothing but straw for five years and never had any mites, nor have my asthmatic husband or I had any respiratory problems. I was afraid he might when we got the chickens (which were his idea), but the straw doesn't bother him. The key to good straw or hay (for feeding in winter) is to check it carefully for damp or dark spots, visible insects, moldy/funky odor, etc. Icky, wet, or stinky bedding should be removed, preferably to a compost pile.

I also never recommend pine shavings to be used as brooder bedding because those little stinkers eat (or try to eat) everything. We get good sized plain wood shavings, but they have no scent or color so they are not from anything in the pine family. Even the oils in PineSol really are not good for us, and if plain PineSol sat on your skin for more than a short time, it would burn. If a child ever got into a bottle of PineSol, that would be very bad indeed.

 

[bradselig]

He cracks me up! I think someone is comfy.

 

[Faraday40]

I also never recommend pine shavings to be used as brooder bedding because those little stinkers eat (or try to eat) everything. We get good sized plain wood shavings, but they have no scent or color so they are not from anything in the pine family. Even the oils in PineSol really are not good for us, and if plain PineSol sat on your skin for more than a short time, it would burn. If a child ever got into a bottle of PineSol, that would be very bad indeed.

Are these what you use or what not to use? I've always called them pine shavings. (Bought in a compressed brick-like bag at Farm N Fleet.) I know the cedar shavings are bad for many animals, but I thought these are OK. Can a chick eat these?

 

[SallyinIndiana]

my chicks eat tidbits of those. I still use them for most of my brooders. I have the best results with the medium chips and the fine ones are so tiny the chick could eat all day the medium ones are larger and the chicks give up so much sooner. I also toss in a few egg shells from the hatch so the chicks have something to peck at other than the chips.