INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[Mother2Hens]

Btw, I think it's annoying when anyone calls me "Honey" because it's so outdated. This is 2016, not 1950! It also can sound very condescending especially when someone your daughter's age calls you Honey or Sweetie. Yuck!

Lacy is concentrating on doing the kicking part of her dustbath. Reminds me of a paddlewheel.
We enjoyed another spring-like weekend. Lacy took a dustbath while I worked on DS's invasive English Ivy. I brought some of the dirt home so she can take dust baths inside since cold weather is coming. This time last year, I had two Silkies in DD's bedroom, and I put dirt in a large plastic storage box for them. Although I had sheets of plastic with paper towels on top as a base for the dustbath, a fine layer of dust (dirt!) covered everything in that room.

I had to totally wash everything. I learned the hard way that it's better to dust bathe in a small contained space like a bathroom!
@Hholly I'm so sorry for what you've been through re Layla's death. She was a beauty.

@Faraday40
Thank you for taking the time to explain your Chicken Training Process! (page 4602)

I need to order some live mealworms so I have something really special as a reward. I love the chip story and that looks like fun, but having a purpose like teaching your chicken to fly up on your arm would be helpful. Sometimes my chickens will come when I call them and sometimes not—they're kinda like my cats—they have to be in the mood.

Loved your comment about reptiles. We had a bearded dragon for seven years. We thought he liked to be pet on the head like a cat since he'd close his eyes like he was relaxing. I guess he was actually dissociating from an unpleasant experience.

Speaking of Cats ~ I took this out-of-focus pic of my Lionel (the best cat in the world). I love how he uses his two front paws to hold his back foot so he can wash his toes!

 

[chick rookie]

Lacy is concentrating on doing the kicking part of her dustbath. Reminds me of a paddlewheel.
We enjoyed another spring-like weekend. Lacy took a dustbath while I worked on DS's invasive English Ivy. I brought some of the dirt home so she can take dust baths inside since cold weather is coming. This time last year, I had two Silkies in DD's bedroom, and I put dirt in a large plastic storage box for them. Although I had sheets of plastic with paper towels on top as a base for the dustbath, a fine layer of dust (dirt!) covered everything in that room.

I had to totally wash everything. I learned the hard way that it's better to dust bathe in a small contained space like a bathroom!
@Hholly I'm so sorry for what you've been through re Layla's death. She was a beauty.

@Faraday40
Thank you for taking the time to explain your Chicken Training Process! (page 4602)

I need to order some live mealworms so I have something really special as a reward. I love the chip story and that looks like fun, but having a purpose like teaching your chicken to fly up on your arm would be helpful. Sometimes my chickens will come when I call them and sometimes not—they're kinda like my cats—they have to be in the mood.

Loved your comment about reptiles. We had a bearded dragon for seven years. We thought he liked to be pet on the head like a cat since he'd close his eyes like he was relaxing. I guess he was actually dissociating from an unpleasant experience.

Speaking of Cats ~ I took this out-of-focus pic of my Lionel (the best cat in the world). I love how he uses his two front paws to hold his back foot so he can wash his toes!

I do know the basics when it come to wounds, colds, and birthing lol but I never trust that I have done right or enough... guess that comes with the territory.
Buddy's eye looks good enough that I am no longer worrier and will just ask my vet for more antibiotics to keep any infection at bay and save us the grief of taking that big ol'brute into the office... lol he don't like it.

when it first happened ALL you could see was the inside of his bottom eye-lid, so this looks so much better.
I really don't have a clue why they fraught? Buddy sometimes gets down in his hips as big dogs often do, and he was in a grouchy mood anyway so who knows.
Lacy looks happy, I still look for her when I feed... lol
Waddles is happier too now days. ( he has a woman!! and 1 that come lays her egg, eats his food then leaves ) lol
I got the pullets and hens that were with Lacy in the coops they belong in now and have NO MORE hawk bait walking around!!! "Take that Mr Hawk"!!!


I expanded Ariel and Homer's yard and they are happy with it, they can now visit with Elsa which makes her happier, everyone is happy!! and I am WORE OUT!! O well it's worth it all. Didn't get the hay feeders built cause DH had to put back brakes on the truck and the parts store gave him the wrong parts, so had to go back and get the right ones but had to get a ride cause the truck was in pieces... then the ride broke down and he had to help fix that truck too... what a day.

Lionel is a talented cat... lol

 

[chick rookie]

BTW @M2H yes they still make house calls but you want to avoid them if at all possible... $$$$

 

[Hholly]

Off topic, CONGRATULATIONS to the Denver Broncos and to our beloved Peyton Manning on his second Superbowl Ring and probably his last professional football game. I don't have a thing against the Panthers, just rooting for Peyton. He didn't play very well, but their defense and special teams were great. Poor Cam Newton just fell apart (had to be nerves). I'm sure he'll be back and some day wear a Superbowl Ring of his own.

With that, we resume our normal chicken programming. Thank you, and goodnight!

Yeeeeehawwww!!!!!

 

[racinchickins]

How many here put hatching eggs into an old egg carton or some kind of tray for hatching? I've been just laying them on their side in the incubator. Considering using an old egg carton this time to cut down on the mess and eggs rolling all over the place.

I have a cabinet incubator, so the eggs are held upright in the trays. But I when I move the eggs to my hatcher, I put them all in cartons. I've had great hatch rates, and the unhatched eggs don't get beat up by the earlier hatching chicks. The only eggs I found that need to be on their sides instead of upright were goose eggs. I haven't hatched any other types of waterfowl yet, but suspect they may need that too.

 

[funnyfarmmom]

Lol your gremlins crack me up.

And hoping very soon to be building a coop, rabbit cages, and brooder set up at a new place for us too! Someone has to handle your over flow lmao

My gremlins are free hehe. You'll never guess what the boys and Ash were really up to with their whispering yesterday . But yeah we definitely need more space hehe.

Mine and Leah Freeman's seed order came in from Annie's Heirloom Seeds on Saturday! Our husbands thought we were nuts with all the butt wiggling we did over them hehe. We have a chick order coming from Welp this week, more butt wiggling will happen when they get here hehe.

Speaking of husbands, mine is a total enabler. Seriously. We went to a livestock auction near us on Friday night. I specifically told him I was only going to check it out and see what I needed to do to sell my excess roos there, although I may bid on some hay if it looked good. So we got there and walked into the poultry and small livestock room. He turns around and says he's going to get a bidding number. Ugh. Every baby pig that came up, he asked if I wanted it. Every set of birds. Bottle baby goats lol. There was one red new Zealand doe rabbit that he knew I had my eye on, so when she came up, he stood in front of the stage and got in a bidding war with another man to get her lol. Keep in mind he has told me no on pigs and goats since I sold my pigs last fall (not that I really listen but you know...lol). I did say no to any birds because I was afraid to bring them around mine, plus didn't know the age or anything. But I have a beautiful new rabbit for breeding stock, if I cangt her to accept any of the bucks lol.

Also yesterday, my Barred Rock roo got over the gate in the coop that separated he and his girls from my Buff roo and his girls. My Buff is a few months older and has always been the dominant, but the Barred is bigger now. Poor Buff got his butt handed to him . He's not seriously hurt but there was blood. The Barredhad him pinned to the floor up against the coop door. When I slid the door back it took a minute to realize what I was seeing then had my hands full shoving the Barred back so the Buff escaped. Into the back yard. In a housing addition where one neighbor has already hauled my cat off. Grrr. Took us forever to catch the poor boy, he was so shook up. I made the gate taller last night but this morning when I started opening runs, that Barred also tried charging me. He may be destined for the soup pot soon. Ugh.

 

[tmarsh83]

Are roll-away nest boxes worth the trouble?

You can't use bedding in them, correct? Otherwise the eggs won't roll.

I'm finalizing coop 2.0 details, and I'm leaning towards going with roll away boxes, just to keep the eggs cleaner. It doesn't bother me if they are dirtied up a little bit, but my wife doesn't care for it, and once the new girls start laying i'll be distributing to friends and family, and if I can save the trouble of washing, I want to.

Anyone have any personal experience to share?

Also, still no chicks at the TSC in Columbia City. Stopped in for just a second this morning to check and nothing. But I did help a lady with her feed bags on my way out, so I got my good deed for the week out of the way early...lol

 

[daskhan]

Off topic, CONGRATULATIONS to the Denver Broncos and to our beloved Peyton Manning on his second Superbowl Ring and probably his last professional football game. I don't have a thing against the Panthers, just rooting for Peyton. He didn't play very well, but their defense and special teams were great. Poor Cam Newton just fell apart (had to be nerves). I'm sure he'll be back and some day wear a Superbowl Ring of his own.

With that, we resume our normal chicken programming. Thank you, and goodnight!

he didnt earn it so meh... i wanted him to earn it so bad but that was the worst superbowl i have ever watched hes still the best qb of all time but come on please dont retire after that pitiful game

 

[Indyshent]

News of the weird, while I was out yesterday, someone came by the ask if we could take in her pet chicken. Landlord of her apartment found out about her and said the poor gal had to go. DH figured one more wouldn't hurt and put her straightaway into the backyard. Good news is that nothing seems to be wrong with her (checked her over pretty thoroughly, and I'm going to be treating them all this week anyway). She's a RSL/Comet, bit on the small side, and still getting used to having bunches of other birds around (and a yard!).

Someone may be coming around to buy all of the aquariums & fish-keeping paraphernalia on my front porch too

Also, I'm putting Denagard now in the brooder because abruptly while I was at school, one developed a lot of sneezing and difficulty breathing

 

[kittydoc]

@tmarsh83 DH made some nice rollaway nest boxes lined with indoor-outdoor low-pile "grass." The birds don't like them much. When they were forced to use them (by having no other options but the ground), they worked pretty well. We'd have to reach up a bit to find eggs that didn't make it all the way down, but that was easy. We did get much cleaner eggs from them. Then we mysteriously acquired more birds and put our old traditional 4-hole nest box in there, too. The rollaways were completely abandoned then. They are still installed, but the girls no longer use them. They want to keep their eggs (and everyone else's, too).

So yes, they work, but you have to make it their only option. In our smaller breeding pens, a couple have built-in rollaways, but only ONE hen uses it. The rest make a nest in the straw bedding where they roost, and we just let them.