INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[EmSteele]

Yay to soap making!
My parents just opened a business (not officially open yet) and my sister will be making all the soaps for them...I am in charge of aprons. I wonder how many people would stop by for hen aprons!?! I'd probably keep all I made :-\ Haha!

 

[SallyinIndiana]

Yay to soap making!
My parents just opened a business (not officially open yet) and my sister will be making all the soaps for them...I am in charge of aprons. I wonder how many people would stop by for hen aprons!?! I'd probably keep all I made :-\ Haha!

This soap making is interesting. I find it kind of fascinating to see the oil go from looking similar to frying oils to pudding.
Adding colors to the soaps is more than a long way off for me. I thought scents would be too but then I remembered I had some tiny sample bottles from a soap company. Tuns out soap scents are long lasting and great for making scented dolls from the strawberry shortcake collection smell new again.

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

@jchny2000 Once the mallard ducks I got from Racin... start laying, I'm sure I'll have duck eggs available of course ducklings would be about a month later. Maybe we could work out a trade of some kind. I'm thinking come April I'd like to have a person to call about goat kidding if something goes wrong.

I would love that! Will you have them separated for breeding, I love them being able to fly like my scovies do.
Excited about the kidding this spring, I think both my does "took". Possibly 4 kids this year

Count on me if there is any issues when the time comes.

I'm pretty sire Black Copper Marans are my kryptonite... if I found some for sale around here, I'd buy them even in the face of divorce from Husband! Lawrence County doesn't seem to have an abundance of BCM's though :-\
Husband and I have been talking about getting some Ameraucana from a breeder if I decided to get more chickens...and I think I will get more...because I want to play around with egg color.

I will definitely be at next years Chicken Fest!

There are a couple AM breeders on here too. Keep an eye out for "chicken trains" during the year, someone may be planning a trip your way and can possibly help get chicks to you.

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Quote: Theres a Coro breeder in KY I had good eggs/chicks from, but lost the young birds due to a hard cold snap and power went out. If you are interested, PM me and I can send you his info. Couple other folks on the thread have hens, and found them also. I have given up for now but they are on my wish list!

morning everyone...yep cold but this time four inches of snow...off to clean the driveway

eww! We are getting it here but just a dusting. temps falling tonight.

our 3 week old chicks available 4sale. - send PM if anyone interested - EEs , Iowa Blue, & Chantecler mix :

gorgeous! I have to stop looking, way too many breeds.

The wind is opening the latches on 2 of my coops. I would not have expected it but off to find a better way to keep the door shut.
I'm a bit nervous for the broody we have in the pole barn. But no way am I moving her into my basement since her chicks are about the size of softballs. When the chicks were smaller we did take them inside for a bit. My youngest boy really enjoyed watching her up close too so it was worth it for a bit.

Now if it could just warm up and stay above freezing, more chicks would be going out into the barn. Of course they will be moving by March 1st anyway as by then they will be large enough to keep each other warm.

The tarp on the main coop is still on so far, but it's ripped. DH swears its getting torn down and replaced this spring. If the roof lasts the winter I will be relieved.

Blizzard warnings here

Its been blowing fiercely today! I just went out to the barn to out the girls to bed...I caught my little 5 month old cockerel mounting his first victim this evening. He is a little sloppy, however the one he mounted is Cici, who is impossible for our older Rooster to mount...she is too fast for him. I was worried that I was going to have a crazy rooster fight on my hands (of course because I wore my good coat) But surprisingly he didn't do anything. Except for spur me because I was wearing my good eskimo looking coat and husbands big black boots. Ugh what gives. He only likes my polka dotted boots.

LOL yep, I have a few roos like that, and a gander. Clothing changes irritate them and they think you are an intruder.

So after watching a few more soap making videos, I tried yet another recipe tonight. But I reduced it greatly first. I'm planning on trying smaller batches till I decide what I like. Sure it takes a multitude of time to measure out all of the tiny amounts of stuff but its still fun to blend until a custard like trace is reached. Tonight I used a palm oil recipe and some lemon scent. I had the scent from a long time ago when I used it to scent up a squeeze toy. Since the palm oil gave the soap a deep yellow color I thought the lemon smell would fit well.
And I'll be honest I'm telling you all about it, just so when I start wondering how long it has cured in a few weeks I'll be able to easily find the date I made it.

I like the idea of lemon and palm oil, sounds wonderful!

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Back later, have household stuff to do! Hope everyone is staying warm its awful outside.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Not a single egg today. :/ Well, okay, there were 6. Half froze and split in the cold, and the other half were coated in poo and then baked under a broody hen! Is it spring yet?!



Pictures make things better. These are from a while ago. I don't remember all of them that I posted already, so sorry for any repeats.

Freema the grumpy-faced barred rock:

Splash Marans Frou-Frou, the super fluffy bum. She's well camouflaged!

Iddy Biddy the supposed-to-be Speckled Sussex, in all her glory:

Margaret. Not putting the blame on anyone, but she may or may not be the broody that baked her poo onto her eggs.

Rangi the Ancona, meek as always:

Rosie the golden Sebright, otherwise known as the cutest little birdy ever:

She is tiny, but looks down on everyone.

And these guys. What more can you say? (Looks like Curly in front and Handsome in back, if anyone's wondering.)

Editing to add: Gee, reading some of the posts about breeds on the past few pages, I'm suddenly feeling a bit self-conscious about my girls...

 

[SallyinIndiana]

Quote:
I only have the one drake for 3 mallard females and 4 black females that came as part of my blue duck order. If drakes are like roos the 7 females won't be an issue but if you think I should pull out the quad of mallards, I'll admit that I've given it some thought. Its just the mallards like space and if I put them in a breeding pen, I'm concerned they will fly right into the roof. There are 3 back up roosters in the duck pen but I have not seen them mate the ducks like I did last year. I'm certain the drake would not like that.

4 kid goats is what I'm hoping for. Ice cream should start going into heat soon based on her age. I'm kind of hoping she is late so I can pull her and giveher more time to grow before kidding next season. But until warmer weather comes, the goats are staying together for warmth.

I was given the palm oil. I had no idea that it would be so yellow when melted. I had let my girl pick the scent before even looking at the oil. I'm glad she choose lemon and not strawberry. And the palm oil recipe is looking to be much harder than the other two I tried. Turns out both palm oil and fragrance oil harden the soap. Still the soap is yellow like the caution tape.

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Quote:
I only have the one drake for 3 mallard females and 4 black females that came as part of my blue duck order. If drakes are like roos the 7 females won't be an issue but if you think I should pull out the quad of mallards, I'll admit that I've given it some thought. Its just the mallards like space and if I put them in a breeding pen, I'm concerned they will fly right into the roof. There are 3 back up roosters in the duck pen but I have not seen them mate the ducks like I did last year. I'm certain the drake would not like that.

4 kid goats is what I'm hoping for. Ice cream should start going into heat soon based on her age. I'm kind of hoping she is late so I can pull her and giveher more time to grow before kidding next season. But until warmer weather comes, the goats are staying together for warmth.

I was given the palm oil. I had no idea that it would be so yellow when melted. I had let my girl pick the scent before even looking at the oil. I'm glad she choose lemon and not strawberry. And the palm oil recipe is looking to be much harder than the other two I tried. Turns out both palm oil and fragrance oil harden the soap. Still the soap is yellow like the caution tape.

If you want the mallards to breed true, its the only way. I have to separate my scovies or the pekin and blue swedish will create mutts for sure. Not an easy task since the scovies fly, but I want my colors to stay pure. I may just have to pen the pekin, and the lavender scovies, ugh who knows. Chocolates and blacks seem to produce both colors, and I don't have a chocolate drake, ugh. I am probably not keeping the swedish, not sure yet. They are a really attractive breed.

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Guys I have a sweet black muscovy hen that needs a home. She has a shorter leg, so I do not recommend her for breeding, and she is too sweet and friendly for the other "option" she has here. I would rehome her free to anyone interested, as a pet animal. She would be a good consistent layer for a small flock, seasonally of course. They usually lay til early fall. Please PM me if interested, she is pick up only.
I do keep some misfits, but she would be in the general scovy flock, and no way to separate her eggs.

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

I am also considering selling my blue swedish trio. They are attractive, quieter than pekin. They do not produce true to color, and may give silvers, blacks and some other colors. If anyone is interested please send a PM.