INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[Crafty chick]

So sorry mishlerfarm24. Good friendly roos can be hard to find.

Good luck funnyfarmmom!

Amwchickin sorry for your chick luck. It's nice you can get a smaller amount of chicks from farm stores, but not reliable. Too bad hatcheries require such a decent number minimum

 

[tmarsh83]

Thank you everyone for letting me take over conversation this morning and get that all off my chest. No one understands better than you all. This seems like justa silly hobby to most people I talk to, and yes, that's how it started out. Now I want to do a breeding program and get birds other than chickens...and get goats...and so one! I love doing this, it is so much fun, even though it is work and it's not cheap sometimes.

I know it's kind of hard to see, but here is the fence. I will try and buy another roll every month until I have the whole yard covered, but this is a start!

My response probably isn't the most constructive, but I have no patience for people who let their dogs roam freely. It's not acceptable. Growing up with various livestock, and for a time showing horses of not insignificant value, I have a no strikes and you're out policy for canines who show aggression towards myself or my property. I'm not going to let your dog run a $10,000 show mare through a fence. Not going to happen. And in my universe, there's not a bit of difference between that show mare and a laying hen. Right, wrong, or indifferent.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Today was a great day with my son as we had a Jace and Mommy day and he was spoiled rotten today! It's the beginning of my spring break and I let my son take a day off from preschool. Well our great day turned into a sad one when we got home!

When we got home we needed to do our evening chores of collecting the eggs, feeding the chickens and cats, and other chores. As we were walking out to the coop my fiancé was yelling at us to wait. He told me that Jace shouldn't go in the coop and wanted to prepare me that I'm going to see something and will explain once he got Jace doing something else. I walked into the coop and saw a lot of feathers, white feathers. I collected 2 eggs and looked around for my chickens. By that time my fiance was walking towards me and told me everything that happened. Our rooster was killed by a hawk. When he got home and changed into his work clothes and went outside he noticed the chickens were going crazy so he walked to the coop, walked inside and about got nailed by a hawk who flew out of the coop, looked down and saw our rooster laying there motionless. He buried him close to our Great Dane that passed away over a week ago. Thankfully our Rooster did his job and saved all of our hens. Looks like we will be investing in some netting to enclose the chickens run and prolly will only be able to free range when someone's home. We have never had any problems with any predators before! Just sucks that our Rooster is gone!

He did a good job, poor boy. I was afraid Reuben would end up doing the same thing with the hawk we had visiting earlier this year. :/ Sorry your day ended poorly, but at least you had a great day beforehand.

Are they hard to get? I have never heard of them but I was never into ducks so probably just never paid attention. I would love some of those, they are so beautiful, strange how 1 breed can strike your fancy enough to get ya interested, when ya never really was to begin with.

Haha, that's how it goes! I wouldn't say call ducks are necessarily hard to find, there must be a lot of people in the state and in nearby states that have them. I see at least some on Craigslist every spring and summer, both ducklings and adults. If you search around the web, you should find some breeders at least fairly close. If nothing else, you can find them at the Central Indiana Poultry Show in Lebanon this fall. That's where I got my first pair, and Crashie is their daughter. I'm sure the same goes for any other show, but I've been to the one in Lebanon a couple times now and there are always a TON of them there!

I'll definitely let everyone know about the Bedford Swap. Guys, I could really use some moral support. Idont have many friends in real life, I'mtoo quiet and shy and my whole life has revolved around my husband and kids for a lot of years. Anyway, I have a job interview today. For a lot of reasons I need to get this job. But the job is very physical. Lots of lifting, pulling, standing and walking. IM only 36, but I already have pretty bad sciatica. So good thoughts, prayers, etc that I gget the job and can handle it would be appreciated! Hope everyone has a great day!

Sending good vibes your way!! I'm the exact same way in person, really quiet and shy, so I get it. Good luck!!

Re: Cuddles She had a good day yesterday. We're looking at it as hen hospice. She seems to be much happier outside with her flock, so I am checking her abdomen & crop & skipping the tube feedings. When inside, all she did was sit on the floor by my computer chair & stare longingly outside. Now that she is back outside, she's scratching & pecking just as a chicken should. She's still quiet & thin, but not lethargic. Re: Cookie We have a broody hen - AGAIN! I put her on some eggs (ones that shouldn't be fertile) for the moment. I'm thinking about swapping them out for a few from the incubator. Those are due to hatch next Tues. Opinions? Do you think that's enough time for Cookie to bond with the eggs? She started what I consider the "pre-broody phase" several days ago, but has been sitting tight ("full broody") for 2 days. She has successfully hatched out eggs before, but I've never tried to shorten her incubation time.

Glad Cuddles is getting better! Elda was the same way when she was in, really glum and quiet until I just went ahead and put her back out. She's doing so well now, hard to believe she had any problems before! Here's hoping Cuddles goes the same route! As for Cookie, I know people will put already hatched chicks underneath broodies when they don't have eggs to sit on, maybe you could try that after the incubator chicks hatch? I have no clue if it makes a difference whether you put the eggs under her now or the chicks later, so hopefully someone will chime in with more experience than me.

Thank you everyone for letting me take over conversation this morning and get that all off my chest. No one understands better than you all. This seems like justa silly hobby to most people I talk to, and yes, that's how it started out. Now I want to do a breeding program and get birds other than chickens...and get goats...and so one! I love doing this, it is so much fun, even though it is work and it's not cheap sometimes. I know it's kind of hard to see, but here is the fence. I will try and buy another roll every month until I have the whole yard covered, but this is a start!

Sorry you've been going through all this. I haven't lost any of my birds to it, but one of our neighbors here has been equally nonchalant about her dog running over here. It disappeared the other day and she came over to ask if we had seen it, and just casually said that the dog comes over to our woods all the time, like it was no big deal, even though we had told her several times to keep it off our property. Why do so many dog owners think it's okay to let their dogs run loose like that?! Here's hoping the fence stops them! Their owners being your landlords does make that a tricky situation... :/

 

[tmarsh83]

I'll definitely let everyone know about the Bedford Swap.

Guys, I could really use some moral support. Idont have many friends in real life, I'mtoo quiet and shy and my whole life has revolved around my husband and kids for a lot of years. Anyway, I have a job interview today. For a lot of reasons I need to get this job. But the job is very physical. Lots of lifting, pulling, standing and walking. IM only 36, but I already have pretty bad sciatica. So good thoughts, prayers, etc that I gget the job and can handle it would be appreciated! Hope everyone has a great day!

Best of luck. Being in the job search mode myself I know how needing a job can weigh on your mind.

I hope it works out.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Trying to sit on my hands over here and think about other things, but it's so hard!! Margie's eggs could hatch at any point from today on! e I can't wait! Must resist checking on her... I need a keeper.

 

[tmarsh83]

The weather finally broke, the materials are here, so it's day one of work on coop 2.0. I'm unnaturally excited to get this built and have some cool things planned for the interior I think, but first it has to get framed up. It's going to be roughly an 8x12 coop, with 8x8 for the birds, and 4x8 for feed storage/etc. The wind has made it tough this morning but I got the worst of it done before it got too bad. I'm glad I started early though.


The ground wasn't too bad as far as level goes, but I did have to build up three corners. (The rott pup thinks he is so helpful.)


I'm using gambrel roof ez-frames that I got at menards. They suggest using 2' center for sheeting and siding, but i'm wrapping in sheet metal like a pole barn, so i'm using 4' centers and letting the perlins tie it together. Saved a fair bit of money using the frames rather than stick building the entire thing also, and a lot of headache working out the math for the gambrel roof. It will be about 8' high in the center, and i'm still working out exactly what i'm going to do, but I have some vented soffit material that I think I will use at the first roof line break for ventilation there, as well as at the side, and the ridge venting. The wind made getting the frames in place and plumb a chore. The rott puppy was not helpful at all.


Had to come in and get myself an egg sandwich for lunch, but got perlins in place to keep the whole thing from crumbling in the wind. More to do, and then start framing in the large entrance door.

Pretty happy with the progress so far.

 

[pattyhen]

Looks good it's going to be a nice roomy coop for your chickens. I'm in southern Indiana here and we have lots of rain heading our direction. It looks like 6 straight days of rain. I hope it doesn't come in your direction.

 

[tmarsh83]

Looks good it's going to be a nice roomy coop for your chickens.  I'm in southern Indiana here and we have lots of rain heading our direction.  It looks like 6 straight days of rain.  I hope it doesn't come in your direction.  

No, it's headed here too. Not wash out days but hit and miss. Hoping to get it ready for steel today, save the floor. Not keen on water sitting on that for a week even if it is treated.

 

[Hholly]

Hey all! Just thought I'd show you this stuff as a possible cheap cover from hawk or something. http://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/...rue&ref_=ox_sc_act_title_1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER

 

[funnyfarmmom]

Thanks for the good wishes everyone! I got the job! Well, dependent on passing the drug test, but hey, I don't even take any prescriptions lol. I start Monday.

Fed the birds their first helping of fodder this morning. 2 entire trays....gone in 3.2 seconds lol. I'd say it was a hit