INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[racinchickins]

Quote: On the flip side, I'll totally be following how this goes for you. I love the idea of having emus, but wasn't really open to taking the plunge without seeing how they worked for someone else. Very much hoping this goes well for you!

 

[ellymayRans]

@pginsber & @racinchickins

Thanks for all the "great feedback" hahaha!!
I think a little show n tell would be Saweeet!
Like I sAid though...expectations aren't that high! I'm honestly just excited to have them in hand. I'll take pics once they arrive and then when set!!

 

[dennislambert79]

Is anyone else noticing an uptake in egg production?  I was down to just one or two a day, and the last 5 days have averaged six a day.  There were 8 eggs in the nest boxes yesterday!  Looks like some of the vacationers are back on the job.  Just a few dozen more that need to get with the program......

I had my girls start laying more I get 12/13 a day at of 14. I threaten one Monday and she laid for first time I've had her yesterday

 

[Zionsville]

Hi!

Take a look at websites of places where you can buy chicks, and even call them to ask about their minimum orders. It varies on the time of year, because when the weather is colder, they must ship more chicks for combined warmth. Though, some places have minimum orders like 25 where it pretty much doesn't matter what time of year it is as far as cold goes, so then they don't have to worry about if small shipment of five will make it or not. I ordered from mypetchicken.com, and could get a minimum of five in April. So, I just really think it depends on if you're shipping in February, March, April, etc., the warmer it is, the fewer chicks that can be shipped safely. That is how the folks at mypetchicken.com explained it to me.

Side note, did you say you have an automated coop-to-run door that you were willing to discuss at Chickenfest? We were hoping to hear about it before then, even see it, if you're available in the next few weeks.

See you next week at lunch!
Diana

CHICK SHIPPING QUESTION:

For those of you who have shipped chicks to others, what is the MINIMUM number of chicks that can safely be put in a standard box (that holds up to 25, but I'd never put that many in there).  We've had 10 shipped TO us in one of these, with some "hay bricks" glued to one or more sides to take up space and provide insulation.  I just wonder what the fewest number that one can safely ship is.  Five, six, eight?  

Thanks to all.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

I do love this pic! There's just something about the loving look she gives.

I'm glad to know I wasn't the only one who thought this chicken loved the person holding her. I was holding Bacon once when he was still little, and he fell asleep in my arms, and my husband looked over at us and said, "There is not a doubt in my mind but what that turkey loves you." He refused to get attached or hold any of the chicks because he figured he'd be drafted to butcher them later, and he'd had rather poor impressions of poultry in general from his parents' attempt to farm chickens earlier in his life. But Bacon was special like that (and now he's weaseled his way into Jchny2000's family, so I'm sure they can attest to what a cool bird he is).

Aww, shucks! She is such a doll, hard not to love. She spent most of that photo shoot looking at me like that. I kept telling her, "Elly-Welly, I need a good picture of you looking at the camera," and then finally she looked at the camera like this: "FINE!"

Bacon sounds like a cool guy. Your husband, meanwhile, sounds like my dad. It took me getting my beloved Frou-Frou hen before he finally seemed to decided he would get attached to them, and that was about 7 years into chickening (Frou'f will be 3 this June). Now he calls them 'his' girls and asks me when I'll next bring him 'his' Frou-Frou for a visit. It's progress.

@Mother2Hens I really love them too. I have a pair, had a trio we lost one of the hens. This has been a year of learning. Most have done really well. But we have lost a few. I think I like chickens with less comb like orphingtons and cochins, even the bielfelders, because they are cold hardy. We had some frost bite for the first time this year. This makes me sad to see. We tried the no heat thing but we won't do that again. It was on the huge combs of the CCL roosters. We put medicine on it and it's healed now but I hate to see that ! Ironically the breeds I thought I would like are just okay. And I've found other breeds we happened on that seem to suit us better due to disposition and other reasons. My fav's so far are those above and marans, and modern games. I may sell my breeders of some nice polish bantams. Great breeding stock. I have a pair of cuckoo WC non bearded the male is double barred, a WC blue male and black female. And a couple black WC cockerels. We will see when 4H comes around...

For what it's worth, I've been following a few Legbar groups and a lot of them have reported extreme frostbite on their Cream cockerels and roosters. I don't know if supplemental heat would have helped your birds much at all, unless you planned to keep it above freezing at all times in there. :/ P.S. Cochins and Bielefelders really are awesome. Surprisingly, I have yet to have an Orpington in my flock. I shall have to remedy that if possible. It wouldn't quote properly! Anyway, I wanted to comment on the Cochin / Cochin mix girls. I was thinking that your Monday may have been pure just based on how you always described her as smaller than the others! As a matter of fact, I had started to type out a post yesterday asking of Monday laid brown eggs, but decided against it! The bigger one appears to have a pea comb in your video, while Monday (I assume that's who was at the beginning of the video) has a single comb. I suspect you have two mixes and one pure Cochin bantam, especially with that little brown egg you found. And on the Sweeter Heater, my limited understanding of it is that it doesn't heat the air, but it heats objects underneath it? So it sounds like it worked the way it was supposed to... Not sure on that one, though. Edited to fix things.

 

[SIMZ]

Hi everyone!

Does anyone want to talk NPIP?

Is it still $80? Is that for the testing or the certification? I can't find anything info on being certified, only on becoming a tester - do you know of links that explain how to have your flock certified? If I took the class and became a tester would I still need to pay the $80 each year for my own flock?

Thanks for any info!

 

[Faraday40]

Yes. Orpingtons are great with kids

Funny Orpington story:
My daughter & her friend found a caterpillar. (Sphinx moth - nothing special) They named it, made a house, fed it, etc. The next day they brought it into school where it received a bit too much "loving." After school they decided to have a caterpillar funeral. They picked some flowers for the grave & grabbed a garden spade. As the girls walked through the yard in search of a proper burial place, the usual chicken parade followed behind them. The girls thought it was sweet that the hens joined them for the funeral procession. I chuckled b/c I knew the real reason was that the chickens saw the deceased as yummy treat with a side of delicious flowers. I distracted the hens while the girls finished their ceremony. Thankfully, DD & her friend were off playing by the time the hens returned & defiled the grave.

Our Orps really, really like their food. They follow us around & say "Tr-eeeeeeeeeeaaaaats" in a whining tone like they're starving. But because they're so docile, any child can just scoop them up. They will sit on laps while going down the slide or swinging. They're used to playing house &/or being dressed up. They ALWAYS come running when we call. We have a mixed flock, & I enjoy the variety of breeds, but the Orps are for the kids.

 

[flyladyrocks]

Hey all. Feeling so bummed right now. My Buff Orp has gone full on broody. It is kinda funny. She screams at us when we go in the coop. Did that noise relaly come out of my sweet Buff Orp? She wanted to kill me when i took 3 eggs out from under her twice today. I'm bummed b/c since our roo died, no chicks.

I suspected a week ago that she was "practicing" the broody routine. She is the one I was counting on to go broody and here we are with no fertile eggs.
So, I am wondering who lives within an hour or so from Indy and will have chicks and eggs.

What you have and how much for them. I don't want chicks before the end of March. So if you are up for some business - eggs in the first couple weeks of March or later, chicks sometime from the the end of March to end of April (maybe later) PM me now before I blow it and give in to temptation at Tractor Supply!

I am still deciding what I want. I was counting on a bunch of mixed chicks. A few LB chicks b/c I had a LB roo and hen, but the rest would be mixed. So I am not opposed to mixed eggs too stick under my broody! With my luck she'll have given up the broody routine by the end of Feb. We have not yet decided on trying to incubate this year but need to decide soon - I'd love to incubate some rare breeds.

Specific breeds -my DD wants silkies for her birthday. I really don't want white. DD and I both have March birthdays! My birthday wish is a Frizzle and a Jubilee Orpington or 2. I was thinking 2 of you were considering breeding Jubilees maybe Brad and ??? Brad I know you are not within an hour but still interested. Those are the breeds we have wanted for a year now. For those of you who are Doctor Who Fans I really want a Frizzle (not Bantam) whose name is River Song! A Polish Frizzle and I'm dancing a jig!

Beyond that, I am still deciding:
Others that have been on the "I want" list the longest: Swedish Flower hens (would love with a crown), Wyandottes, DD really wants a colorful egg basket -but not sure we are emotionally ready for Legbars so soon after losing ours, So Araucana, Americana, Easter Eggers and Black Copper Marans are definitely in the Mix. Some of you have had issues with not so friendly Easter Eggers so feel free to give me input! My Orp is the only one who did not get a frostbit comb this year and I so love Orps so any Orp is high up there.

Seriously, I could go on and on. I love all my chickens and love so many different kinds! I keep finding more breeds I am not familiar with and fall in love with. I really should not live in the middle of the city - even with our large lot still, there have to be limits to numbers! Hubby wants to eventually get to 30. We have 7 now.

 

[ChickCrazed]

Hey all. Feeling so bummed right now. My Buff Orp has gone full on broody. It is kinda funny. She screams at us when we go in the coop. Did that noise relaly come out of my sweet Buff Orp? She wanted to kill me when i took 3 eggs out from under her twice today. I'm bummed b/c since our roo died, no chicks.

I suspected a week ago that she was "practicing" the broody routine. She is the one I was counting on to go broody and here we are with no fertile eggs.
So, I am wondering who lives within an hour or so from Indy and will have chicks and eggs.

What you have and how much for them. I don't want chicks before the end of March. So if you are up for some business - eggs in the first couple weeks of March or later, chicks sometime from the the end of March to end of April (maybe later) PM me now before I blow it and give in to temptation at Tractor Supply!

I am still deciding what I want. I was counting on a bunch of mixed chicks. A few LB chicks b/c I had a LB roo and hen, but the rest would be mixed. So I am not opposed to mixed eggs too stick under my broody! With my luck she'll have given up the broody routine by the end of Feb. We have not yet decided on trying to incubate this year but need to decide soon - I'd love to incubate some rare breeds.

Specific breeds -my DD wants silkies for her birthday. I really don't want white. DD and I both have March birthdays! My birthday wish is a Frizzle and a Jubilee Orpington or 2. I was thinking 2 of you were considering breeding Jubilees maybe Brad and ??? Brad I know you are not within an hour but still interested. Those are the breeds we have wanted for a year now. For those of you who are Doctor Who Fans I really want a Frizzle (not Bantam) whose name is River Song! A Polish Frizzle and I'm dancing a jig!

Beyond that, I am still deciding:
Others that have been on the "I want" list the longest: Swedish Flower hens (would love with a crown), Wyandottes, DD really wants a colorful egg basket -but not sure we are emotionally ready for Legbars so soon after losing ours, So Araucana, Americana, Easter Eggers and Black Copper Marans are definitely in the Mix. Some of you have had issues with not so friendly Easter Eggers so feel free to give me input! My Orp is the only one who did not get a frostbit comb this year and I so love Orps so any Orp is high up there.

Seriously, I could go on and on. I love all my chickens and love so many different kinds! I keep finding more breeds I am not familiar with and fall in love with. I really should not live in the middle of the city - even with our large lot still, there have to be limits to numbers! Hubby wants to eventually get to 30. We have 7 now.

Just FYI, your hens should be still putting out fertile eggs if it has been 3 weeks or less. It might be worth sticking some of your recent eggs underneath your broody. Otherwise KittyDoc has jubilee and lavender orps and is in Zionsville. I have Bielie eggs and Olive egger hatching eggs. SallyInIndiana has the Blue Laced Red Wyandottes and I think someone else has another sort of laced Wyandotte. Some of the members have a list in their signature line that shows who has what breeds. I don't think some of our newer members are on there but it might give you a more thorough list than my overworked brain can.

Editing to add pictures of my precious Bielies!!! Love them!

 

[ChickenLady2014]

Haha! I forget you hatched them. Lol. So yeah, their eggs are a cream color. My Olive Eggers are Black copper Marans/Ameracauna. I'm going to have to look back at their hatch date. That really surprises me. I saw you got eggs in August so I'll do some math and research.

Anyone know how early cocks become fertile?? I'll read but always more fun to ask around!

I wouldn't think it would be difficult to rehome bantam Olive Eggers but I would happily buy them back if you don't mind. Fun little project birds!!

I've heard from a member on this site that as young as 6 months.