INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[Indyshent]

I only have 2 buff orpington ladies right now. I just wished I had gotten an orpington roo for my flock, at least a contender or two. The more I learn, the more I see which breeds will be best for us. All 3 of my BR cockerels were chest bumping in the brooder by 5 weeks old. They sure seem to have developed quickly. I hope your Buckeye boy works out well. We are trying to keep 2 roos.

I will probably wait on the pullet. I feel she at least deserves a chance. Her comb turned red literally overnight, so I keep telling myself she's hormonal and maybe it will get better once she lays a few eggs.

Thank you for the advice. I had heard of the footballing, but I never realized you carried them upside down. I will use this in the future. I think we have are pretty firm now on the decision to get rid of Blue. I won't have anything around that will attack my kids. My son that got attacked is 10. I can't imagine letting that big rooster out around my toddler.

If @jchny2000 or @kittydoc have any orp roosters or possibly cockerels, I may be interested. If there are any Cogburn boys around, I am very interested.

Just visited @jchny2000 and, yes, she does have one lavender Orp boy! He's super sweet and comes from a nice line of good boys. If you breed lavender over buff, you get lavender babies.

The pullet will not get better. I'm 99% sure. I've never seen a girl who gets aggressive before laying and somehow turns out okay later. Generally, hens get more affectionate as POL approaches because they're horny and confused about it. If you don't want to wait it out, but really don't want to process her either, football the living crap out of her. Stop taking this from your birds. This is caretaker harassment, and you don't have to take it!

I've met the Buckeyes at jchny2000's too, and they are about the sweetest, most sociable, hop-in-your-lap birds you're ever going to meet. The Buckeyes are too young for your flock, I think. The lavender Orp is much closer to the size and age of your other birds, which should help him integrate into your flock, should both of you make this match.

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Quote: I never separated my Scovies. I ended up with 15 babies total, and they have the prettiest colors and patterns. They range from a hen who is entirely black with beautiful green highlights to a drake that is very light grey/lavendar with a white head. Everyone who visits have been gushing about how pretty they are.
@racinchickins Did you add from any other breeders? My blue eyed white hen threw some unusual colors. She is sadly the girl that flew into a semi driving past. She had lavender only on her crest. I think you got a few of her hen ducklings. Really wish I could remember where her parents were from!

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Quote: Ditto. Its super easy to make yogurt at home and way cheaper than buying, its a staple food here. Of course way more awesome with goats milk! But I am prejudiced lol!!!! Jersey milk is pretty awesome too, and much higher butterfat content. Anyways, if folks are interested I will post the yogurt recipe.

Quote:
my computer went down while I was hospitalized last august then was re hospitalized in novmber then went back to work in febuary and was fired 2 months ago. that's it in a nut shell
Oh my. I pray you are in better health, and the job situation improves.

I have 2 Buckeye cockerels that I think would make good flock roosters. 15 weeks old.

I have separated them from the main flock today and left the other one to see how he does as he matures and a flock roo here.

The 2 I don't keep will go to the freezer unless someone wants one for a flock roo. So far they have been of very gentle temperament but I have not had Buckeyes before so I don't know how to expect them to be when the hormones kick in. I've heard good things about them.


Anyhow...if anyone is interested in one for a flock roo send me a pm.

Photos from last week:






ETA: These birds are from the Shumaker and Lay lines and purchased from Hidden Creek.

I have these birds also. @Leahs Mom , My DIL and I went in together to get these awesome birds. JUST an AMAZING breed. I will not part with any, roosters or hens. Gentle souls. Sweetest chickens I have owned yet! You pick them up and they just melt on your hand, "ok, hold me!" I am so pleased with the demeanor. They are not a bird to be mixed with an aggressive breed. Gentle, calm and trusting, wonderful temperament. The boys are just too adorable. If you have never owned a rooster, but want to try one, this is your guy.
My DIL had a flock of Jeff Lays birds and lost them to a dog attack 2 years ago. She had 2 hens, 1 rooster that survived. A second recent dog attack took her rooster, trying to save his hens. Rusty was a pretty awesome guy. Knew her car, jumped in her lap as soon as she opened the car door. DIL has also faced the sad fact of free ranging, don't do it unless you are home and watching. She had a huge flock of buckeyes. Never a mean hen and several broody girls. Rusty was her only fella but I was really impressed with him. After seeing her flock, I knew I had to try the breed for our farm.

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Our top cockerel jumped at my son feet first yesterday. I was not outside when it happened, so we went out later together. I wanted to see how Blue acted with him, with me right there. While, Blue always walks away from me (he knows I'm the boss), he stood his ground with my son and raised his hackles. All my son was doing was standing there. I told the kids no more going in without an adult. I'm really bummed, because he has shown such promise as a good roo, but I can't tolerate ANY human aggression. My kids are too small to even begin to fight off an attack. So...it seems we have no choice but to get rid of him.

Is there anything else to be done? I know some people try to "train" a rooster, but my gut says no. Once we start letting the younger group free range with the others, the kids need to be safe. My boy is already afraid. I hate that. He loves those chickens. I don't want them to be afraid of the birds.

If pinning the fella or carrying him won't work, make him soup. Children don't need to fear roosters, so many good fellas out there needing homes.

Not to interrupt the rooster talk...

But I thought I would share the latest pictures of our covered porch build. We finished the roof yesterday (well, except it doesn't have shingles, just tar paper) and I got a little more hardware cloth up. Since it appears as though we aren't going to have any more rain soon, we're hoping that today we'll finish putting hardware cloth up and get all of the nooks and crannies filled in so that it's predator proof and ready for use!

EDIT: And... So much for that.

Started hearing thunder right after posting this, and now a steady rain has set in... Oh, well...


Anyway, here's where we stopped yesterday:



I'm only pausing to post now because it became evident we weren't going to have enough hardware cloth to finish, so mom had to run in and get more. Works for me, because I already have a blister from snipping hardware cloth today!

Ugh, hardware cloth but so worth it. The porch is flat awesome!!!

@pipdzipdnreadytogo

Love it! Now I have porch envy.....

And...it's supposed to storm tomorrow with heavy rains. Maybe it will go north east instead of south east?

It all came here LOL we are drenched and muddy again, ugh!

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Off to bed, we were up late remodeling coops. DH wants to keep our chickens, lol. Guess he likes the fresh eggs.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

@pipdzipdnreadytogo Love it! Now I have porch envy..... And...it's supposed to storm tomorrow with heavy rains. Maybe it will go north east instead of south east?

Darn, you're right. I don't know why I was thinking we weren't due for rain. Well, I got about 4 1/2 feet of the wall covered this morning and mom and I got the last door up and fenced before the rain rolled in. Hopefully it doesn't rain the entire evening here so I can do SOMEthing else. I just have the peak and around 8 feet of the wall to put wire up on, and then all that's left is the heavier fence on the lower half and a few little spots to fill in for predator proofing. Here's hoping I can get that all done tomorrow if nothing else! I'd like to have it done before Monday (when classes start for me), but I won't complain as long as it's done before Wednesday (which is the one day of the week that I have an unreasonably early class this semester, ugh) so I can put it to use. Anyway, it's been a lot of work, but it'll be so worth it. I'll have to see if I can do a 'picture tour' of it when it's done so y'all can see it up close. EDIT: Oh, and I thought I would post again about the Sand Hill order I'm getting together for next spring. There's room for 4 more chicks in the order if anyone wants just a small number of one of their breeds. I will be sending in the order within the next 2 weeks, so let me know as soon as possible! Anyway, if I don't get any takers, I'll just have to get more Dorkings than planned... Oh, darn. EDIT 2: In regards to the above, they would be shipping to northeast Indiana, if driving distance makes a difference.

 

[Faraday40]

Sad news:
This morning we noticed that our broody is down to 2 chicks. We could not find any sign or remains of the cream colored orp chick on the left. I feel bad for not looking under mama last night, so I can't be sure of what happened Mama broody always takes such great care of them. After the bad T-storms this morning, I can't be sure if a murder scene was washed away or if a predator had take out or if the frightened chick is simply hiding. It's been several hours, so my guess is the chick is not coming back.

Poor DD did not have a good start to the day and now we are leaving for the state fair where she will present her poultry science project. Hopefully I'll have better news to report the next time I log on.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

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[/CONTENTEMBED]
[CONTENTEMBED=/t/730582/indiana-bycers-here/49250#post_17425784 layout=inline]Sad news:[/CONTENTEMBED]
This morning we noticed that our broody is down to 2 chicks.  We could not find any sign or remains of the cream colored orp chick on the left.  I feel bad for not looking under mama last night, so I can't be sure of what happened  Mama broody always takes such great care of them.  After the bad T-storms this morning, I can't be sure if a murder scene was washed away or if a predator had take out or if the frightened chick is simply hiding.  It's been several hours, so my guess is the chick is not coming back.

Poor DD did not have a good start to the day and now we are leaving for the state fair where she will present her poultry science project.  Hopefully I'll have better news to report the next time I log on.

Aw, I'm so sorry! Fingers crossed for good results at the fair, though!

 

[Greenthumb83]

This morning we noticed that our broody is down to 2 chicks. We could not find any sign or remains of the cream colored orp chick on the left. I feel bad for not looking under mama last night, so I can't be sure of what happened Mama broody always takes such great care of them. After the bad T-storms this morning, I can't be sure if a murder scene was washed away or if a predator had take out or if the frightened chick is simply hiding. It's been several hours, so my guess is the chick is not coming back.

Poor DD did not have a good start to the day and now we are leaving for the state fair where she will present her poultry science project. Hopefully I'll have better news to report the next time I log on.

So sorry to hear this.

I hope the chick shows up, now that the storms have passed. Your poor daughter...I hope she does well at the fair and the day is not all bad.

 

[iamfivewire]

New coop for the Duckies . . . .

. . . . & New Ducks :