INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[Chaneys Ranch]

@jchny2000
So far my goat boys pretty much ignore the PI. Seems there must be too many other things to choose!

Oh my yes, they gobble stuff that makes me cringe! Bocephus is an eating machine. He eats the blackberry bushes like its candy. Anything thats got stickers on it seems to be favorites to them. The girls do great too, but my buck gets NO grain at all this time of year. He ignores it and it goes to waste.

PS: I didn't know what pokeweed was....thanks for the link @jchny2000 . We do have it in various places. I have seen the goat boys eat more than a little bit of it on occasion. Didn't seem to bother them...

I cut some of that out of the little chicken woods at the edges so now that I know it's poisonous, I'll go out and pour some salt on it's base today.

I remember my Gramma Sophie saying "see that, it is very bad. it will make you very sick and I only want you to feel good." Dad warned me its dangerous for cattle also. Its all over the place here, I didn't see it as much in northwest IN growing up.

Quote: We have an odd looking milkweed plant here, its not the same as what I had up north. Monarch catarpiller seem to like it tho!

Found little Smaug, my Bourbon poult in the alley behind my house. Looked like she may have been hit in the side by a passing car, a boot, or some other relatively large object. Still alive, but she's not going to make it. She's such a sweet, friendly girl, and she loves to cuddle, so I'm holding her for the last time now, and I'm bawling my eyes out.

*edit* At 6:30, she passed away. She was such a trooper.

on no, I am so sorry.

@Indyshent, I'm so sorry about Smaug...sucks.

We have almost no possums here, but I have trapped one when trying for a cat. Our pens are predator proof, so we just stay vigilant. If I thought a possum was eating eggs or killing young or small birds, I'd drive it to the nearest wildlife park.

I am so glad you like the Bielie boys! Their dad is not much on warning calls. He has a soft voice and gave up trying to compete with my big mouthed Orp roos long ago.

It's very nice to have 5 chicks out the door in the last two days, with 2 more going to Mother2Hens on Friday. Three blue Orps, hopefully all pullets, and my 3 SGDs went outside over a week ago to my former Jubilee pen. I sure miss Placido's distinctive crow. It's also a lot quieter in the garage now between the moved juveniles and the babies rehomed or sold.

If anyone is interested I have one Bielefelder pair for sale, about 10 days old. I will have BBS Orp chicks by probable sex in a few weeks. I already have some cockerels identified. Dad is a massive blue English Orp and the two hens are Fancy Chick/Gisbrecht English girls. Very nice babies that I hatched for jchny2000 and myself with lots to spare! My last 5 eggs are about to hatch, more Orps, these out of Cogburn Junior and my best lavender hen. It's a genetics experiment to see whether Junior is split to lavender. I hope not, but need to know. Hoping for black and blue Orps split to lavender and no actual lavender chicks. Suspense!!

I am so excited, can't wait to see them!

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Well my chicks have made it to 6 weeks old! Chicken Noodle (silver laced polish), Chicken n' Waffles (Speckled sussex) & Chicken Nugget (Blue Ameracuana) (My previous flock had been attacked by raccoons at 5 weeks, so from here on out it'll all be new to me! We had a party over the weekend and I made the chicks a pretty hefty salad out of scraps. They LOVED it! They are starting to come to me when I call for them, which is pretty cool.

Congrats, love your babies! Raccoon have been a big issue this year.

Anyone here heard of fly strike? I had a crash course in it last night with one of my red sexlink girls, Skua. I had noticed she was acting pretty glum, and last night she didn't perch so I looked her over. If you've never heard of fly strike, you may not understand the sheer disgust and horror I experienced upon finding it on her. Believe me, this is something you need to be aware of and know what to do with in an emergency! Just be aware that it's totally gross.

So Skua had a bath and we trimmed away all of the feathers around her wound and packed it with Betadine ointment (Betadine solution was suggested by one site, but we only had the ointment). This morning, she has no signs of fly strike in the wound that it caused, so now it's just a matter of healing, I hope.



I mentioned a while back that one of my Speckled Sussex, Poggy, had been ill; she's been in my room being treated but was all alone for about a week. A couple nights ago, my little Golden Sebright, Rosie, came down with the same symptom (yep, just one

it's a chicken thing), so I brought her inside to be treated as well. Now Skua's up there, too, so I guess Poggy's not going to be lonely anymore! I had to have a stern talking to with her about sharing with Rosie, though, as she was looking like she was going to be aggressive.

"Sharing? What's that?"

Thanks for the info, I will google it!

I have been without internet for almost week. Our internet antenna got struck by lightning.

This weather has been nuts!

So we are at that point where we want to start nest stalking for eggs, but I know it will be a while yet. My BRs, BOs, and EEs are 17 weeks now, but I checked several for pelvic bone width and it seems like they are nowhere close. My australorps are only 15 weeks and a couple have been red in the comb for like 2 weeks already. I checked the one that is the most matured and her pelvic bones are farther apart than the older girls, but I still bet we don't see an egg for a few more weeks at least. Anyone else check the pelvic bones? What kind of width am I looking for at close to POL? I can't help but be excited!

your Australorp will lay pretty early, possibly by 19 weeks. I used to look at a whole lot of different hints, pretty much just watch for pullet eggs around 25 weeks now. A really good sign is the pullets squatting to the ground when you walk by them.

My chicks (Spitzhauben & RIR) that hatched March 13th are getting red combs but no eggs yet. Some of the ones I sold have reported back & I hear they are laying. My orps will take much longer, so I'm not holding my breath.

RIR are usually 25 weeks, I haven't kept the other breed. @pbirdhaven does, she can give better advice.

Hatching started yesterday from the four broody nests. Lots of squabbling between the ladies and much piracy of nests, eggs, and babies, so I took the surviving babies away and fired up the giant tote brooder again. Lost as many as have successfully hatched so far. I blame in part one particular broody pooping in her nest box, but mostly problems owing to the weather. With as humid as it's been, I don't understand why I'm getting so many shrink-wrapped babies. So far, most are clean-legged which makes them Breda, Marans, Welsummer, buff Orp and/or EE, with full-blooded Breda and EE possible (even likely, when one considers the overwhelming number of EE on the premises, and the fact of EEs being mutts anyway). Three so far are blue, which means the're definitely EE with the blue (cream?) light brown EE/Sumatra for their daddy.

Found a crumpled twenty while doing laundry, and I think some of you might know how tempting it was to sneak off and get two of those blue Palms from the seller in Middletown, seeing as how I just fired up the brooder anyway. Really missing Curly and Smaug. The other poults will wander off sometimes and lost call, but I think they're adapting pretty quickly, all things considered, to the sudden disappearance of two life-long buddies.

Major Tom is getting more protective of the remaining poults, I think, I'm not sure if it was due to the darkness or what, but the EE/Sumatra tried to mount Hershey the Chocolate poult, and Major ran him out of Dodge

If I get any poults to hatch, will holler. I am only concerned with getting a new BR tom, but it appears my single poult is yet another hen. I may order again next year,or just call it quits on turkeys all together. We can talk more late winter and decide if we want to go in on an order.

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Really tired this week already. Moms repeating all her tests for rotator cup surgeries. Lot of Dr visits. The ortho surgeon is really not comfortable to proceed due to her weak condition. Dads very concerned, both are so tired from all the trips out to get it all done. I was really unsettled with the pain medicine they prescribed, but it is helping her. She is at least able to rest now. I question everything, is this really necessary? Things like heart checkups are, but can be scheduled for the same day for both of them. 1 trip to Indy alone really tires them out, mom gets so frightened going to the city. 2 occasions now were mis-scheduled. She had not had the test, so it was pointless to see the Dr. Wasted trip, and really hard on my parents. The physicians won't charge for that visit, and are pretty irritated by the mistakes too.

"Barn kittens"came indoors. Its just too hot and humid, near 90 degrees out there by 10am, its a metal barn. So I have 3 boy kittens and a big litter box in the den until the weather settles down. I will not risk heat stroke Once I feel they will stay put and are neutered they can go back out, but it has to be cooler weather than what we are seeing now.

Today was rooster free range day, and when I came home, I saw my entire EE/OE pen out with my rooster pen. Ugh

! Nephew forgot to lock the EE/OE pen and they pushed the door open. So, those folks waiting for eggs/chicks please be patient, that just pushed my hatch schedule out 3 weeks. No idea what the resulting egg color or chicks will look like, so I will not hatch any until I know they will be pure flock birds.
One other note, I found my black AM rooster acting "drunk" and realized he was suffering heatstroke. When I picked him up, he was way too warm to the touch. Turned on the water hose, cooled him down. He was OK tonight, but wow he was way too hot. Hosing him off with plenty of cold water from the well seemed to help him, he was back to crowing tonight. I hope to find him in good shape tomorrow. Watch your dark colored birds closely with this heat and humidity.

My 6 calves are doing great. Moose is fat and getting big! Spoke with my vet, and will be doing tetanus shots before we band and dehorn. Expecting my last sow Doublestuff farrowing August 10th, all the piglets are already sold depending on her litter. We will be keeping 1 fella for the freezer.

 

[MikeTodd]

Wow! Heat index is supposed to be 105 for the next few days here in Northwest Indiana! Hopefully will have the run finished for the big girls today (we were on vacation for the last 5 days). The wife is freezing bottles and jugs of water tonight so that we can let them lay up against them tomorrow. Any other ideas? There is no powere out to the coop so a fan is not an option right now.

 

[Faraday40]

I brought long extension cord & a big house fan outside & aimed it toward my flock's fav shade tree. For the last 2 days, my flock has decided to smush together under a smaller tree rather than go near the cool area I made for them. I think they're afraid of the powerful fan. I have smaller fans in the coop & run. I think they got used to them, so I can't understand why they're avoiding the big fan. Not sure how to keep my big black orps cool. I also have one Bielefelder. That breed does not do well in heat at all.

Any simple advise to get through these next few days? I froze some drinking water bottles. Do I just throw them on the ground? Mine would probably be too cautious to go near. I refilled the water a few times to keep it cool. I even tried a mister, but that failed miserably! (Again, they won't go near it)

 

[pginsber]

Wow! Heat index is supposed to be 105 for the next few days here in Northwest Indiana! Hopefully will have the run finished for the big girls today (we were on vacation for the last 5 days). The wife is freezing bottles and jugs of water tonight so that we can let them lay up against them tomorrow. Any other ideas? There is no powere out to the coop so a fan is not an option right now.

Do you have shade for them to get out of the sun?

Quote:

My chicks (Spitzhauben & RIR) that hatched March 13th are getting red combs but no eggs yet. Some of the ones I sold have reported back & I hear they are laying. My orps will take much longer, so I'm not holding my breath.

I know what Greenthumb83 and Faraday40 mean about waiting for the big day when they lay their first egg.

We have 3 Araucana chicks that will be 12 weeks old this Saturday. From the beginning, one of them looked like a roo. Lately, the neck feathers on TWO of them look like roos, but I'm trying to ignore that. Hoping it's nothing. Yesterday morning, I heard a pitiful attempt at a crow. I was really hoping they'd lay pullet eggs real soon and nobody would ever crow. I think I'm out of luck.

I think the white one in the middle is a pullet. I had hoped the black one on the bottom was also a pullet, but she sure has some pointy neck feathers.

Here's the crew:

 

[Leahs Mom]

@pginsber
I had 2 RIR chicks a number of years ago and one had a HUGE comb. I kept thinking "she" may be a "he", so decided not to pass final judgement until I saw the first eggs

In my case it was a "she" but she just had a large comb.

 

[Leahs Mom]

I brought long extension cord & a big house fan outside & aimed it toward my flock's fav shade tree. For the last 2 days, my flock has decided to smush together under a smaller tree rather than go near the cool area I made for them. I think they're afraid of the powerful fan. I have smaller fans in the coop & run. I think they got used to them, so I can't understand why they're avoiding the big fan. Not sure how to keep my big black orps cool. I also have one Bielefelder. That breed does not do well in heat at all.

Any simple advise to get through these next few days? I froze some drinking water bottles. Do I just throw them on the ground? Mine would probably be too cautious to go near. I refilled the water a few times to keep it cool. I even tried a mister, but that failed miserably! (Again, they won't go near it)

@Faraday40 and @MikeTodd

I like to put out flat pans (like cake pans...I use pyrex) and fill with water. The birds will drink from them and also stand in them to cool off.

If you have a large area, I set a few out in various places and then whenever I'm out, I'll refresh them with cold water from the hose. It may take them a few days to get the idea that there is water in them but when they do, you will start to see birds stand in them to cool off. Put them in the shade if possible.

For your frozen bottles, place them inside your current waterers to keep the water cool. You may need something smaller than water bottles if you aren't using bucket-type waterers. I've never had birds cozy up to an ice bottle just out on the ground, but the cool water is refreshing on a hot day. When one of the bottles thaws out, just put it back in the freezer and replace with another...keep rotating.











Some other ideas for a "wader/drinker"... I got this wreath storage container after Christmas on clearance but you could use any SHALLOW container and fill with water as well...

These photos show the wreath container being used for a winter dust bath but you could use in the summer for water too...you can use both sides so they're like getting 2 for the price of one

 

[Leahs Mom]

Sorry...I think I edited the prior post at least 5x...

 

[Finnie]

@Indyshent Here is a photo of one of those Middletown lavender royal palms. I bought two of them three weeks ago to replace one of my own poults that disappeared overnight. (Turkey math works just like chicken math.)

They were only a few days old when I bought them, and sadly one of them refused to learn to eat. But the remaining one is doing fine.