INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[bradselig]

So sorry to hear you lost a chicken, cluck acres. I lost my favorite roo the same way. What amazes me is the edge of my propery is less than 100 ft away from a stop sign, yet people still go flying by my house. I've also thought about putting signs up, but they have learned to run quickly across the road. I haven't lost on to a car in many months. Just hoping they don't teach the new chicks coming this spring to cross the road. I'd really like to find a way to break them of the behavior.

 

[SIMZ]

New to the forums and live in Porter Indiana. I am starting a small farm and getting a couple chickens for my family and was wondering if anyone knows the ordinance in Porter to have chickens? I have been doing alot of research and getting all kinds of great info with questions i have had just wondering if anyone knew off hand about this cause they don't seem to know when I called. I live on 4 acres so I guess it doesn't really matter cause my neighbors don't care just wanted to know.

Hope to gain a lot of knowledge here. Thanks

Hello, neighbor! (Sort of!) I don't know the ordinance for Porter, but it does amaze me how hard it can be to find out sometimes. I once called all over trying to find out a question about horses, and no one really knew. Frustrating, isn't it? Check your zoning and then try that route. Good luck!

 

[sdsmowen]

Hello,

We are fairly new started last spring with a dozen chicks

we now have 29 and 1 is currently broody and sitting on 3 eggs
we have 4 ducks, 2 pygmy goats and 2 shetland sheep also. We have a small homestead in rural Greencastle.

 

[SallyinIndiana]

We got our brooder box all set up and our chicks don't even come till March. now I'm wanting chicks to put in the brooder as practice chicks. If I keep it up at this rate my whole yard is going to be full of chickens.

 

[cwaf]

I moved my five 3 week olds out to the coop/shed yesterday because the smell was getting a bit powerful in that room in the house! lol I blocked off an area about 30" by 70" using a damaged interior door I picked up when I first created my coop area within my utility shed. This fall, when I decided to attempt my hand at incubating, I surrendered my entire shed to them for a coop. In my signature is a link to the webcam that should be running so I can keep an eye on the little ones. http://www.ustream.tv/channel/cwaf They have a 250w heat lamp suspended over the middle of their area so they can move closer or farther away as they need. They get their water from a plastic mayo bottle that has a nipple inserted in the bottom. Across the top of their area are a couple of screens to discourage any of the big ladies from joining the chicks! I found it quite interesting to see their initial reaction yesterday after being placed in their brooder area and then hearing their father cut loose with a mighty crow from outside! They all stood straight at attention--not moving at all! I explained that was their father and they had better get used to his noise. hahaha

We also decided to start small last Feb 29th when we got our first 6, and my wife is probably thinking I am going crazy now. I have those 6, the new 5, and 6 more in an incubator now--anticipating that some of the new ones will be males and will have to be relocated. I may be advertising for giving away some "mutts" later on! ;-)

 

[babymakes6]

We got our brooder box all set up and our chicks don't even come till March. now I'm wanting chicks to put in the brooder as practice chicks. If I keep it up at this rate my whole yard is going to be full of chickens.

It's called "chicken math!"

 

[SIMZ]

It's called "chicken math!"

Exactly -- and It's all fun until the day your husband refuses to build anymore coops!

 

[JustJoe]

Hello All. I am in Marion, Indiana. Grant County. I am in the research stage of getting chickens. I would like to start with 6-8 layers. What size coop & run should I get? I don't want something that I have to get on my hands and knees to clean. Any builders out there? Any tips I should know to get started?

Thanks in advance

 

[babymakes6]

Exactly -- and It's all fun until the day your husband refuses to build anymore coops!

Ask mine-I can do it quicker and just as good as he can!

 

[bradselig]

Hello All. I am in Marion, Indiana. Grant County. I am in the research stage of getting chickens. I would like to start with 6-8 layers. What size coop & run should I get? I don't want something that I have to get on my hands and knees to clean. Any builders out there? Any tips I should know to get started?

Thanks in advance

Welcome! Not too far from you. Honestly I'd go with the largest sizes possible. When I made my coop and run, I figured 4sq ft per bird for the coop and 10 sq ft per bird for the run. I've not had any trouble with the coop size, but I am increasing my run size his year. While I free range my birds 6 days a week (live next to church and don't want the chickens to bother them) there are a few dirt/mud spots and grass is very very short.

Any idea what chicken breeds your interested in at this point?