INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[Chaneys Ranch]

Quote: Well yes, they are loud, and that's another plus for me. I am in cornfields, woods and have predators I want to know are around. Guineas warn me of any current risks.
I am not in town, and my one neighbor also keep geese, much louder. I post thoughts to help others who are making homesteading decisions, and to try to help others who are keeping multipurpose birds. I do not recommend any pheasant type fowl in town aside from quail. Guineas would not make a neighbor happy, of course..
Not everyone has neighbors, however. And not all neighbors feel a loud bird is an issue, just like my neighbor and I feel. Last month, my guineas attacked a red tailed hawk going after their gosling and saved her. Our flocks comingle, share the pond and creek, and coexist. We discuss our flocks and other livestock prior to purchasing them, we try to be neighborly and considerate of each others families. I have lived here since 2003 and always have a good relationship with them.

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

But on to a different thought my neighbor wants me to raise him some meat birds... Any thoughts an suggestions on prices he wants between 5-6 he's tired of store bought.. He's doing the processesing I'm just buying and raising them.. Problem I have is one not entirely sure which breed to choose was thinking Cornishx but no real chance to expand my flock there.. Any other breeds grow to processing size by 6-8 weeks and can breed? Also anyone interested in going in halfies on an order?

Your best bet in that short period is cornish cross. I just went in on an order myself. Rural king probably is still selling them.

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Materials advice:

Because I have a lot of vertical space in the run (& B/c my neighbors were throwing out some closet shelving), I decided to add an upper level.
Some of the flock enjoys sleeping there, so reused feed bags & a hose work as temp poop boards. I bought plastic trays because winter is coming & at some point I need a way to clean there without the use of the hose.

I use construction sand in the run, but I was wondering if anyone had another chicken-safe / sift-able alternative.
My other ? is how to deal with the bit of rain/snow that may come in from the side. (I don't want the trays to fill with water.) The roof is mostly drip-free, but some precipitation can come in via the sides. I leave some open areas along the top sides for ventilation. Maybe drilling tiny holes in the trays will allow water to drain out?


Yes, that hen is wearing a chicken-saddle. The "eyes" are my idea of scaring hawks away.
The rabbit cage is for my broody & her upcoming hatch.

Love it! I would tarp or cover the side especially for winter. Another thought is extending the roof line. I love your aprons everytime I see them!

 

[chick rookie]

Just to let ya'll know just in case... I have a friend that has an Uncle that has 100 MFD + chicks for sale. He wants 2.00 for the adults of all ages, and .50 for the chicks. I normally wouldn't do this without pic's but the man has cancer and cant get outside anymore. So If anyone is interested let me know and I will go get pic's and try for more info. Also I am going to look at a bunch of Silkies tomorrow, or should I say today.. lol. I will get pic's, he is selling all of them and going to stick with the bigger birds, he says just lose too many to wildlife.



On another subject, I have 19 hens and pullets, in one winter coop. Do you think that would be enough to keep 3 roosters from killing each other. None of the Roo's are mean. and I try to have at lest 6 hens per. so that would work, but I never have them all in the same coop, but this year I have less chicken then normal but more breeds ( hope that made sense ) next spring I want to separate them into breeding pens, but for this winter I want most in one coop to save on heated water electric and supplemental lighting, but if I do it, that will put all the Roo's in the same coop. It's an 8x10 coop, with a porch and my snow free zone I make every year so they can get out and stretch.

Also has anyone ever put insulation of any kind on the OUTSIDE of a Plastic shed? If so what did you use and how did you attach it? We bought a shed off E-bay and turns out it is plastic!! never said anything about being plastic and the pic's of it didn't look plastic and I'm worried it just wont keep the birds warm. There will only be 8 birds in it.


Thanks for letting me pick your brains, again...

 

[chick rookie]

O I forgot to ask, has anyone ever heard of or done business with a breeder names Donald Mitchell? I'm thinking of getting some of his birds and just trying to check him out. He is located here in Ind.

 

[kittydoc]

I'm going to throw this out there one more time, anyone interested in a jubilee orpington roo? I'm processing this weekend and he's on the list.

Awww! My baby!! Did you try Craigslist? I've gotten $25 for all the extra boys I had, like 4. That would be better for him and you. Post photos and talk up his good points, what a deal $25 is when they usually go for double that as chicks, state fertility if known (and the boys need to be trimmed to hit 100%), they make great flock art, etc. I bet he'll sell in 2 or 3 weeks. Honest!

 

[kittydoc]

Just to let ya'll know just in case... I have a friend that has an Uncle that has 100 MFD + chicks for sale.  He wants 2.00 for the adults of all ages, and .50 for the chicks. I normally wouldn't do this without pic's but the man has cancer and cant get outside anymore.  So If anyone is interested let me know and I will go get pic's and try for more info. Also I am going to look at a bunch of Silkies tomorrow, or should I say today.. lol.  I will get pic's, he is selling all of them and going to stick with the bigger birds, he says just lose too many to wildlife. 



 On another subject, I have 19 hens and pullets, in one winter coop. Do you think that would be enough to keep 3 roosters from killing each other. None of the Roo's are mean. and I try to have at lest 6 hens per. so that would work, but I never have them all in the same coop, but this year I have less chicken then normal but more breeds ( hope that made sense ) next spring I want to separate them into breeding pens, but for this winter I want most in one coop to save on heated water electric and supplemental lighting, but if I do it, that will put all the Roo's in the same coop. It's an 8x10 coop, with a porch and my snow free zone I make every year so they can get out and stretch. 

Also has anyone ever put insulation of any kind on the OUTSIDE of a Plastic shed? If so what did you use and how did you attach it? We bought a shed off E-bay and turns out it is plastic!! never said anything about being plastic and the pic's of it didn't look plastic and I'm worried it just wont keep the birds warm.  There will only be 8 birds in it. 


 Thanks for letting me pick your brains, again... 

If the roos get along, you have just barely the 4 sq ft/bird you need. If you have your roost up higher with a second floor about half that size, you'll have 6 sq ft which would be better.

I'm surprised a plastic shed didn't cook your birds unless it's not sealed hollow stuff. Is it like fake siding? Can you post some photos? Ours are wood and we used long staples to attach foam board, covered that with Tyvek or similar house wrap, then finished it all with corrugated steel. It's holding up great. I would have insulated the inner walls, too, but it's too much hassle now.

 

[kittydoc]

I have a theoretical question for the group. I know that all domestic dogs are a risk to poultry in theory. Do any of you have experiences with pitbull or pitbull mix dogs and chickens and our cats? Are they better, worse, or average as predators? The pet pits I saw as a vet were awesome with people, intelligent, calm, and well-behaved. Never treated a single one for fighting, not even pet dog tussling. I do know they would be killing machines if they're fighters. A classmate's brother was killed by one that broke its chain and bit through his femoral artery. He died quick.

My husband and I have been talking about getting a dog for a few months now. I think it's because we have empty nest syndrome! Anyway, the dog would mostly be indoors anyway, partly because it's a pitbull and I don't want to frighten my neighbors. But also because I want it to be supervised. I would like to acclimate it to the chickens if that's doable. Our cats will be very PO'd at us but they'll get over it. This is a young adult female that we are considering. What do the rest of you think?

Am I asking for trouble? I'd like to think the occasional presence of the dog outside and the dog leaving scent markings of all varieties might help deter other dogs as well as the coyotes we have in our area. I am not worried about the dog breaking into our coop and our birds never get out of the yard at all anymore since we put up the bird netting. We would like to get a dog at some point, and will, but most of the time when I know somebody has a dog for adoption its further away. This one is close. If we like her, I'd like to give her a trial run.

I know ACC in Indy is giving their dogs away because they have a distemper outbreak, and most are pits or pit mixes, but those are more likely not to have a good history, esp the males.

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

Generally I agree I did actually have a short quarantine period I just didn't see any problems although after seeing how long y'all seperate them four days may not be long enough I just started to worry he was getting to cold all alone

unfortunately no, 4 days is not nearly sufficient. 30 days is the minimum for an effective quantify, and that is 30 days symptom that if any sort of treatment becomes necessary you rest the clock once the bird has recovered as long as the illness was not one of the big no's.

 

[pginsber]

I have a theoretical question for the group. I know that all domestic dogs are a risk to poultry in theory. Do any of you have experiences with pitbull or pitbull mix dogs and chickens and our cats? Are they better, worse, or average as predators? The pet pits I saw as a vet were awesome with people, intelligent, calm, and well-behaved. Never treated a single one for fighting, not even pet dog tussling. I do know they would be killing machines if they're fighters. A classmate's brother was killed by one that broke its chain and bit through his femoral artery. He died quick.

My husband and I have been talking about getting a dog for a few months now. I think it's because we have empty nest syndrome! Anyway, the dog would mostly be indoors anyway, partly because it's a pitbull and I don't want to frighten my neighbors. But also because I want it to be supervised. I would like to acclimate it to the chickens if that's doable. Our cats will be very PO'd at us but they'll get over it. This is a young adult female that we are considering. What do the rest of you think?

Am I asking for trouble? I'd like to think the occasional presence of the dog outside and the dog leaving scent markings of all varieties might help deter other dogs as well as the coyotes we have in our area. I am not worried about the dog breaking into our coop and our birds never get out of the yard at all anymore since we put up the bird netting. We would like to get a dog at some point, and will, but most of the time when I know somebody has a dog for adoption its further away. This one is close. If we like her, I'd like to give her a trial run.

I know ACC in Indy is giving their dogs away because they have a distemper outbreak, and most are pits or pit mixes, but those are more likely not to have a good history, esp the males.

Our flock is in a chain link enclosure. We have cats and dogs in our enclosed backyard, but they are separated from the chicken enclosure by the chain link fence.

We have 2 outdoor cats; one of which routinely walks across the top of the chicken enclosure. The chickens know our cats and make the 'OMG run for cover' sound if another neighborhood cat is around but not when ours hangs out on top of their fence watching them.

We have several dogs. Two of which are pit mix littermates we've fostered since they were Parvo-recovering 4-wk olds.
baby Charles baby Vegas

Charles, male, 60 pounds
Vegas, female, 50 pounds

We have other dogs and none of them bother the chickens. Our chickens are used to our dogs, and do not get alarmed by them.

The most annoying things the dogs do: the beagle sticks her nose through the chain link squares to try to eat chicken poop, and the pit-mix puppies sometimes charge the fence to watch the chickens fly all over the place. The chickens are wise to this game and don't respond every time.
The pit mixes stay outside the chicken run gate when we're going in and out of the run, and they also stay outside of the chicken coop people door when we go inside.

If the chickens were out, I'm absolutely certain the dogs would chase them and 'play' roughly (aka non-survivably) with the birds. Though we've always raised them together, the birds and pit mix have been separated by a fence.

Our pit mix puppies were shown the 'chicken rules' by not only us and correction, but by the other dogs that already know the rules.

I can't say enough good things about co-mingling dogs, cats, and chickens. Squirrels, however, are a totally other matter.