INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[ellymayRans]

Some pics of my most recent hatch. DD was Thursday and they started Wednesday finished Friday. I had to help way too many out as I opened the bator frantically Wednesday just before work and saw some had already started hatching!!! Oh so mad at myself! I'm sure I caused several losses due to that.
All and all though I'm happy with the hatches. Hatched 4 of the 4 cochins for @nwchickma (yeah!). 3 Millie Fleur d'uccles, 5 Porcelain d'uccles

1 cochin for myself

2 silkies which I slipped in last minute decision but oddly they both came out with a touch of yellow skin on the toes. Otherwise they have the walnut comb and black skin. I had separated them for breeding but gathered from them earlier than I should have. Just wanted to hatch some. Cuties still.

They are almost identical! Lol!

Now, question. One of the d'uccles hatched and I saw this early on but just thought it was a spec of something on the beak but when I took this pic today out from under the lamp and up close I see it's actually a open sore of sorts. Never seen this before.
Anyone?

 

[ellymayRans]

Well the d'uccles I mentioned in the previous post were all shipped eggs from CA. I've now had 2 losses, 1 Millie and 1 Porcelain. The porcelain never stood and the Millie was a peeper...I've had that before and figured it wouldn't make it. It just constantly was chirping up a storm even when the others were quiet and/or sleeping. Left me with 4 Porcelain and 2 Millies.

Hopefully the rest are good..other than the porcelain I posted with the place on its beak. I'm not sure if that will heal or why it's there...so??

 

[dennislambert79]

This is our first chic and only chic I hatched so far. Now a week old mix ISA Brown and Ameraucana don't know sex. We love playing the guessing the game.

 

[racinchickins]

Quote: Have you ever comingled 2 turkey flocks before? I'm not sure it will work, I have my MWs and my Sweetgrass separated, and I let one group at a time free range. I have to keep an eye on them or whichever group is ranging will fight with the cooped flock through the fence. It's given me a bit of a dilemma, as I'm not sure I want to maintain two separate flocks of turkeys year round.

Does anyone else have any experience with this?

 

[ellymayRans]

Well the darn banty bin got me again! Lol! I know...I'm feeling a little bit obsessed! Yes, this is a first for me! Really! I just am in love with the Cochins, silkies and d'uccles bantam breeds! Picked up the remaining 10 d'uccles they had! They all appear to be Millie Fleur pattern.

Don't laugh!

 

[flyladyrocks]

Very cute little chick. But it must be lonely. Are you hatching or getting any more chicks?

This is our first chic and only chic I hatched so far. Now a week old mix ISA Brown and Ameraucana don't know sex. We love playing the guessing the game.

You had to give them all a happy home! Who knows where they would have ended up if you had not bought them!

Well the darn banty bin got me again! Lol! I know...I'm feeling a little bit obsessed! Yes, this is a first for me! Really! I just am in love with the Cochins, silkies and d'uccles bantam breeds! Picked up the remaining 10 d'uccles they had! They all appear to be Millie Fleur pattern.

Don't laugh!

 

[dennislambert79]

I picked up a little silky and another chic don't know what kind for it to have company. I'm going to try hatch some more later. I have an ISA Brown that went broody so I figured I would let her do the work

 

[ellymayRans]

What a wonderful surprise this morning!
My very first Peahen egg!

Funny how excited I was/am!!

Regular EE with it for comparison

 

[Indyshent]

Well the darn banty bin got me again! Lol! I know...I'm feeling a little bit obsessed! Yes, this is a first for me! Really! I just am in love with the Cochins, silkies and d'uccles bantam breeds! Picked up the remaining 10 d'uccles they had! They all appear to be Millie Fleur pattern.

Don't laugh!

I didn't laugh...but I did chuckle

Only have three banties (they're expensive!): two silkies that look to be turning white on me (one of which has to be a roo), and one mille fleur d'uccle (really hoping for a girl, as cute as the boys are because the girls are good moms and quieter). Poor bitty D'uccle hasn't grown at all in almost three weeks, though its feathers are coming in really well. It's getting its vulture hocks and butt feathers in! It keeps getting plugged up, and I have to clean its bottom about every day because it just can't seem to poop right. , but the good news is that it's getting pretty well used to the butt-washing routine and usually falls asleep during said bath time/vent massage. It snuggled with me for quite awhile last night after drying off.

The silkies and D'uccle were the only ones of either type left at the bin when I got them. RK had a bunch of white bantums, but I had no idea what kind they were supposed to be and only had $3 and a dead turkey to exchange = straining to buy all three banties I recognized. Always wanted silkies, and D'uccles have such charming personalities. Even our roo last year put up with lots of unwanted attention from our youngest child and was never mean to anyone (though he did crow.. all night).

Is it normal for silkies to look buff at hatch and feather in white? I hadn't expected that but it seems to be the case with both of the bitties I have.

Silkies--amazingly enough--are less cuddly than the d'uccle. One of the silkies is at least three times bigger than the poor D'uccle. One has a lot more 'tude than the other and is already quite a chunk larger than the other--and getting a sizable comb at only 3wks old! Both seem to have the same feathering rate, but the smaller one doesn't carry itself as tall and--dare I say--aggressively. Bitty boy copped a serious affront when I touched him this morning, so I'm really hoping his attitude irons out when he gets to meet the other roos. I've got lots of big boys (and girls) now to help that ironing go very smoothly

So far the confirmed rooster count is: 1 Wellie, 2 EEs, 2 dark Brahmas, 1 Australorp, 1 partridge Rock, 1 silkie, and probably more that are hiding. 2 of 3 BO sexed pullets were roosters, but sadly both of them have died (one by dog, and the other when my youngest stepped on him Friday. Poor boy hasn't taken it well, so keep him in your prayers).

So far the hardest to sex category of LF appears to be 1) Brahmas 2) Wyandottes. Either I have a lot of roosters (screwed by Townline/RK again, in other words) or hens are just more masculine than I'd expected. Both genders get lots of pointy feathers, attitudes, and bright early combs, apparently.... or I have a bunch of roosters who were sexed/marketed as pullets.

 

[Mother2Hens]

Originally Posted by dennislambert79 One of my favorite experiences ever was the first time my broody Bonbon (my avatar) hatched eggs (and the second time was exciting, too!) It's so much fun to watch the mama hen teach them.
That's cool about your peahen egg. What are you going to do with it? Do you have a broody? If not, your "neighbor" (in Martinsville) dennislambert does!

I will PM you about getting the two Cochin/Olive Eggers to you. Bonbon and the three "chick" are still together in the bantam coop at night. Bonbon protects her tiny baby, Screech. Bonbon is still clearly in charge and all of them still looked upon as their mother. The biggest chick/hen can be a bully to her sisters. The other night I saw the big one pecking her sister, so I opened the coop door and did my usual form of reprimanding: I looked her in the eye and point my finger at her and said "No!" Then, the big bully ran over and tried to hide under Bonbon who is the same size! The next night I looked in and didn't do anything, and the big bully ran over and hid behind Bonbon again! You'd think that I had terrorized her! I have found, though, that for all my chickens, the best way to reprimand them is to stare and point at them while saying, "No!" I guess it's similar to that feeling when a teacher points you out in class in front of everyone! haha

I could make a transparent watermark for you in Photoshop, but I don't know how you'd add it if you don't have Photoshop. That is an excellent point about it used as a visual reminder. That's how I got started making the Indiana maps with counties in red-- a visual reminder is much easier than trying to remember where every town in Indiana is located! If you want to include the title of your farm on a photo, then your original example works just fine (we're back to square one! lol). It doesn't need to be a watermark (transparent) if you're using it for identification. You'd want it to be easily readable. Here's an example: