INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[bradselig]

[COLOR=8B4513]Apparently @iamfivewire sent a predator down from Michigan that's new to Indiana! lol[/COLOR] First black bear confirmed in Indiana in more than a century [rule][COLOR=8B4513]At first I only wanted LF chickens since I tend to like big animals, and I didn't think bantam eggs would be very useful (in reference about recipes that call for large eggs). When I had to find a sudden replacement buddy for my Jubilee Orp, Adeline, the only Orp available was a Bantam Chocolate — Bonbon! She's been our favorite ever since. I love my two Silkies and my tiny lovey-girl bantam Cochin, Screech. Bantam eggs are great for scrambled or boiled egg snacks. The best feature of bantams is that their poop is smaller!! Unfortunately, I've found that bantam hens and roos are just as loud as LF. And I love my LF chickens, too. It's nice to have a mix of sizes and breeds. All of us who have spunky bantams know that they can certainly hold their own against bossy LF chickens![/COLOR] [COLOR=8B4513]Background info re bantam chickens: I sent an email a minute ago and noticed that my spellcheck capitalized Bantam. I just looked at a Wikipedia article that explains the word bantam (not necessary to capitalize) was derived from an area of Indonesia named "Baten Province." European sailors liked the small native chicken breeds, and the name evolved to "bantam." [/COLOR] [COLOR=8B4513]The article also noted:[/COLOR] [COLOR=252525]Most large chicken breeds have a bantam counterpart, sometimes referred to as a miniature. Miniatures are usually one-fifth to one-quarter the size of the standard [/COLOR]breed [COLOR=252525], but they are expected to exhibit all of the standard breed's characteristics. [/COLOR][COLOR=8B4513]That makes me wonder if that's why my Cochin, Screech, is so tiny (special hatching egg from @ellymayRans ). Is anyone familiar with miniatures? I don't remember anyone mentioning that size other than me when referring to Screech, and I didn't know that it was a real size designation. Maybe @pbirdhaven who is on hiatus from poultry shows will know.[/COLOR]

I went from one who thought bantams were "worthless", to now having my flock with more bantams than LF. IMO, they have the best personality! Hopefully I'll be lucky and the silver barnies will be just like the other bantam breeds

 

[Faraday40]

At first I only wanted LF chickens since I tend to like big animals, and I didn't think bantam eggs would be very useful (in reference about recipes that call for large eggs). When I had to find a sudden replacement buddy for my Jubilee Orp, Adeline, the only Orp available was a Bantam Chocolate — Bonbon! She's been our favorite ever since. I love my two Silkies and my tiny lovey-girl bantam Cochin, Screech. Bantam eggs are great for scrambled or boiled egg snacks. The best feature of bantams is that their poop is smaller!! Unfortunately, I've found that bantam hens and roos are just as loud as LF. And I love my LF chickens, too. It's nice to have a mix of sizes and breeds. All of us who have spunky bantams know that they can certainly hold their own against bossy LF chickens!

Like you, I also love the big girls, but last year, I requested 3 bantam hatching eggs for my daughter on a whim. Only one hatched & I expected to give her away b/c I was told that a bantam & LF cannot co-exist. Well our little Cookie (Bantam English Orpington) is still here. She never realized that she's disadvantaged & is in the middle of it all. She earned the nickname, "the Bantam Menace" when it's treat time. Her little body can out maneuver the big slow girls every time. She's the only one who can fit in the window sill above the roost, so she hogs those cool summer night breezes. We've found that she frequently goes broody, earning her another nickname: "Cookie Monster." When not broody, she lays an egg a day. DH calls Cookie my useless chicken, but the flock would be boring without her. Not only do my kids play with Cookie, but her "cute, little eggs" are in high demand with all the neighborhood kids.

Because Cookie went broody for a second time since March, we decided to give her another go at motherhood. This time, I ordered 6 misc. bantam eggs with my doz LF eggs. We got 4 sebright (2 silver, 2 gold) & 2 white silkie. Can't wait to see what hatches & find out if a broody hen or incubator will get a better hatch rate. (For DD's 1st trial of this experiment, both % s were equal.)

Trial 1:
Cookie hatched 6 out of 7 LF eggs
Trial 2:
Cookie is sitting on 3 bantam & 5 LF eggs. She could probably cover more.


Cookie playing Barbies.

 

[pbirdhaven]

Background info re bantam chickens: I sent an email a minute ago and noticed that my spellcheck capitalized Bantam. I just looked at a Wikipedia article that explains the word bantam (not necessary to capitalize) was derived from an area of Indonesia named "Baten Province." European sailors liked the small native chicken breeds, and the name evolved to "bantam."
The article also noted: Most large chicken breeds have a bantam counterpart, sometimes referred to as a miniature. Miniatures are usually one-fifth to one-quarter the size of the standard breed, but they are expected to exhibit all of the standard breed's characteristics. That makes me wonder if that's why my Cochin, Screech, is so tiny (special hatching egg from @ellymayRans ). Is anyone familiar with miniatures? I don't remember anyone mentioning that size other than me when referring to Screech, and I didn't know that it was a real size designation. Maybe @pbirdhaven who is on hiatus from poultry shows will know.

I've never heard of miniature as a size designation. The APA Standard of Perfection designates weight ranges acceptable for each breed. I don't know about all bantam breeds but have noticed that the cochins and silkies closer to the upper limit seem to be the ones that place well; the more petites tend to be overlooked. I have a pair of bantam cochins from EllymaeRans that are also pretty small. Won't be showing them but they are certainly cute and fun to watch, and nobody has told them that they aren't as big as everyone else!

 

[leslea]

Apparently @iamfivewire sent a predator down from Michigan that's new to Indiana! lol First black bear confirmed in Indiana in more than a century
At first I only wanted LF chickens since I tend to like big animals, and I didn't think bantam eggs would be very useful (in reference about recipes that call for large eggs). When I had to find a sudden replacement buddy for my Jubilee Orp, Adeline, the only Orp available was a Bantam Chocolate — Bonbon! She's been our favorite ever since. I love my two Silkies and my tiny lovey-girl bantam Cochin, Screech. Bantam eggs are great for scrambled or boiled egg snacks. The best feature of bantams is that their poop is smaller!! Unfortunately, I've found that bantam hens and roos are just as loud as LF. And I love my LF chickens, too. It's nice to have a mix of sizes and breeds. All of us who have spunky bantams know that they can certainly hold their own against bossy LF chickens!

Background info re bantam chickens: I sent an email a minute ago and noticed that my spellcheck capitalized Bantam. I just looked at a Wikipedia article that explains the word bantam (not necessary to capitalize) was derived from an area of Indonesia named "Baten Province." European sailors liked the small native chicken breeds, and the name evolved to "bantam."
The article also noted: Most large chicken breeds have a bantam counterpart, sometimes referred to as a miniature. Miniatures are usually one-fifth to one-quarter the size of the standard breed, but they are expected to exhibit all of the standard breed's characteristics. That makes me wonder if that's why my Cochin, Screech, is so tiny (special hatching egg from @ellymayRans ). Is anyone familiar with miniatures? I don't remember anyone mentioning that size other than me when referring to Screech, and I didn't know that it was a real size designation. Maybe @pbirdhaven who is on hiatus from poultry shows will know.

We definitely enjoy our bantams. I was just thinking about how much space I had in the coop when I chose that route. Now that my boys have taken a liking to eggs, I need to catch up with them. I do wish we'd built a larger run, too. So many "do overs" in retrospect, but it's all okay. One of those woulda coulda shoulda things.

 

[bearbottom]

[COLOR=8B4513]This just goes to show that no one method is the perfect one that everyone should follow. We are so fortunate to have input from professionals and from our members in order to help us make informed decisions. Each person's set-up and flock is unique to their situation, so IMO "if it's not broken, don't fix it!" Or as I often tell myself, "Don't reinvent the wheel!"[/COLOR]

[COLOR=008000]ChickCrazed~[/COLOR][COLOR=8B4513]That's interesting about putting AstroTurf on the perches. Did she mention how to attach it? I have been using black foam pipe insulation on my chickens' perches (I like to think I invented that idea, but I forgot to apply for a patent! lol). The foam easily wraps around each perch and even comes with adhesive to connect each side. I also run foam tape along the inside of the insulation to secure it to the wooden perch. I change it twice a year when it gets worn out from claw marks, and the tape isn't difficult to remove from the perch. Since I figured out that method myself, I wonder if she mentioned how to adhere AstroTurf. And is any artificial grass product acceptable, or is AstroTurf the only one with beneficial ingredients? [/COLOR]

[COLOR=8B4513]Also, did she approve of using a no-crow collar? I think I remember that @kittydoc
[/COLOR] [COLOR=8B4513]had concerns (and various opinions are beneficial!), so I wonder how it has been working on your roo(s).[/COLOR]

[COLOR=8B4513]Thank you for sharing all of your information!![/COLOR]

thanks everyone for your info on what to use in my run.

 

[Acornewell]

Anyone know how to check a LIVE chickens temperature? I have been searching around to try and figure it out...it just keeps showing me results for checking a cooking chickens temp!

 

[ellymayRans]

[COLOR=8B4513]Apparently @iamfivewire sent a predator down from Michigan that's new to Indiana! lol[/COLOR] First black bear confirmed in Indiana in more than a century [rule][COLOR=8B4513]At first I only wanted LF chickens since I tend to like big animals, and I didn't think bantam eggs would be very useful (in reference about recipes that call for large eggs). When I had to find a sudden replacement buddy for my Jubilee Orp, Adeline, the only Orp available was a Bantam Chocolate — Bonbon! She's been our favorite ever since. I love my two Silkies and my tiny lovey-girl bantam Cochin, Screech. Bantam eggs are great for scrambled or boiled egg snacks. The best feature of bantams is that their poop is smaller!! Unfortunately, I've found that bantam hens and roos are just as loud as LF. And I love my LF chickens, too. It's nice to have a mix of sizes and breeds. All of us who have spunky bantams know that they can certainly hold their own against bossy LF chickens![/COLOR] [COLOR=8B4513]Background info re bantam chickens: I sent an email a minute ago and noticed that my spellcheck capitalized Bantam. I just looked at a Wikipedia article that explains the word bantam (not necessary to capitalize) was derived from an area of Indonesia named "Baten Province." European sailors liked the small native chicken breeds, and the name evolved to "bantam." [/COLOR] [COLOR=8B4513]The article also noted:[/COLOR] [COLOR=252525]Most large chicken breeds have a bantam counterpart, sometimes referred to as a miniature. Miniatures are usually one-fifth to one-quarter the size of the standard [/COLOR]breed [COLOR=252525], but they are expected to exhibit all of the standard breed's characteristics. [/COLOR][COLOR=8B4513]That makes me wonder if that's why my Cochin, Screech, is so tiny (special hatching egg from @ellymayRans ). Is anyone familiar with miniatures? I don't remember anyone mentioning that size other than me when referring to Screech, and I didn't know that it was a real size designation. Maybe @pbirdhaven who is on hiatus from poultry shows will know.[/COLOR]

The bantam is the miniature to the LF cochin. That's what that's referring to. I'm sure she's the same size as her momma. They are tiny. Much smaller than my Silkies.

 

[browncow15]

sorry to hear that? Many blrw hatch? Or do I need to send you more eggs

6 if the 15 BLRW hatched, the last 4 I had to help. They seem to be doing ok though. If they're all roos we'll have to talk about more eggs

 

[iamfivewire]

of all our variety of chickens , our white Chanteclers seem to always be the last ones to go in at nite , & sometimes til its almost too dark to see .
ive also noticed that our bielies (altho we havent had them very long) seem to like to stay out late also. has anyone else that has bieles noticed this too with theirs , or are ours just on Germanys time zone ?

 

[ChickCrazed]

This just goes to show that no one method is the perfect one that everyone should follow. We are so fortunate to have input from professionals and from our members in order to help us make informed decisions. Each person's set-up and flock is unique to their situation, so IMO "if it's not broken, don't fix it!" Or as I often tell myself, "Don't reinvent the wheel!"

ChickCrazed~That's interesting about putting AstroTurf on the perches. Did she mention how to attach it? I have been using black foam pipe insulation on my chickens' perches (I like to think I invented that idea, but I forgot to apply for a patent! lol). The foam easily wraps around each perch and even comes with adhesive to connect each side. I also run foam tape along the inside of the insulation to secure it to the wooden perch. I change it twice a year when it gets worn out from claw marks, and the tape isn't difficult to remove from the perch. Since I figured out that method myself, I wonder if she mentioned how to adhere AstroTurf. And is any artificial grass product acceptable, or is AstroTurf the only one with beneficial ingredients?

Also, did she approve of using a no-crow collar? I think I remember that @kittydoc had concerns (and various opinions are beneficial!), so I wonder how it has been working on your roo(s).

Thank you for sharing all of your information!!

I believe any fake grass would be fine, I asked her if stapling it on with a staple gun would be the way to attach it and she said yes. I would probably only put staples on the side and bottom and not on the top of the roost. She didn't say anything about the use of the no-crow collar, but she didn't recoil in horror or yell at me. She just got excited and asked to take a picture to show students and clients. I guess the only other time she had seen one in use the guy forbid her to take pictures (weird....what would be so secret about it?). I don't have the no-crow collar on super tight, I actually need to tighten it a bit. It does not stop him from crowing but makes his quieter. The tighter it is I am sure the more it deafens the noise, but I am ok with some noise. And no problem on info sharing! It is so hard to learn this stuff, we have to learn it from each other!