INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[racinchickins]

Quote: I make it by the 5 gal bucket. two capfuls of medicine and a long squirt of syrup. I err on the side of sweeter is better. I also try to make it so there are very few alternative water sources.


In other news. I have a peacock hen who i'm not seeing very often and not sleeping in the barn at night. Guessing there is a nest somewhere. I noticed her around the old unused coop that is by my shop waiting to be torn down (i'll get to it someday......) So I went snooping in that yesterday. No peacock, but I found a muscovy hen proudly sitting on a ginormous pile of eggs!! I believe that is the sign that I have lost control. My birds are no longer consulting me on where (and especially when) to have babies. I already have too many scovies. I had 4 suprise babies show up last week and more now on the way. I'm going to take some pictures of what I have and put some of them on here for sale. If anyone is looking for amazing ducks (although they actually are more closely related to geese...) these are it. No loud noises, pretty sociable, great eating if you are into that, and all sorts of fun colors. They are messy, but not nearly as bad as mallard type ducks. Mine coexist with all my other birds.

 

[racinchickins]

Does anyone know how to make a hen go broody? I have some Pekin ducks that have been mating, and apparently Pekin hens don't brood. If like to try and hatch a few of the eggs. I don't mind sacrificing egg production of that means I can get some ducklings to hatch. Any advice welcome! TIA

You can't make a hen go broody. The most you can do is provide a nest with several eggs that you don't disturb and hope someone takes you up on it. Pekin are one of the breeds that have had broodiness bred out of them over the years, so you probably won't have much luck with them. If you have a broody breed of chicken, they may take some duck eggs to hatch. I have the opposite problem, my muscovies want babies in the worst way and every one of them has now gone broody on me at one point or another of the summer. If the current broody I just found hatches her eggs, they will all have been successful too.

 

[Lengerich Farms]

You can't make a hen go broody.  The most you can do is provide a nest with several eggs that you don't disturb and hope someone takes you up on it.   Pekin are one of the breeds that have had broodiness bred out of them over the years, so you probably won't have much luck with them. If you have a broody breed of chicken, they may take some duck eggs to hatch.  I have the opposite problem, my muscovies want babies in the worst way and every one of them has now gone broody on me at one point or another of the summer.  If the current broody I just found hatches her eggs, they will all have been successful too.

Thank you for the response. I didn't think there would be a way to make them go broody, but I figured it would be worth asking. I have two Pekins, a Drake and a hen, but the drake is thanksgiving dinner, so I figured if I could get a couple ducklings out of him before then, I'd take em. Cash is tight as we just moved, or else I'd go get an incubator.

Possibly a stupid question but: would a heat lamp at the right distance do the same thing?
I would
Like to have some ducks that are used to me from the get go, as the two I received are not happy to be around people at all. They were free ranged, and now I'm a coop with a pen (to protect from the neighbors dogs). I'm new to the who fowl world, so I may ask dumb questions from time to time, but in my research I always find conflicting answers. That's why I joined here, so
I can get the low down from people in the know haha.

 

[Indyshent]

Oh, that's too funny M2H! Saturday we went to a wedding in ft wayne a wedding in the evening. After we got home and put the kids to bed, I went out to check on the girls and found our dear old Pepper had died. It looked like from old age. No feathers out of place, just laying in the run. We will miss her, she was always under our feet keeping us company.

She was a beautiful old gal.

Hope everyone had an awesome holiday weekend! Been a hard weekend for us. Chickens are laying better and I think all the coop upgrades have just confused my hens! My peahen passed away in her sleep yesterday. We have no idea about her age, so many other things since she was a rescue. My Peacock is feeling lost. I left her body with him a while so he could mourn. He is doing better tonight, and followed the geese a lot. He is still calling for her

I want to Post a heads up warning to anyone considering adding bottle calves, cows in general. My cow neighbor Jack is in his late 60s and a trusting soul. He is old school 100% and will help anyone. He made a "gentleman's agreement" June 18th to exchange his pregnant Holstein cow for 10 calves. The guy signed the agreement. Picked up Jacks cow. To date, still no calves. We went up here tonight since he had another Craigslist post for 16 calves. Had to call the sheriff, and now its become a lawsuit.
http://muncie.craigslist.org/grd/5714146466.html
This is the guy. Just heartbroken for Jack. I guess you just can't trust people to do what they say anymore, unless you really know them. This hurt his family, his income and plans for his herd next year. I hope his horrible person pays for what he has done to Jack. I plan to tell everyone I know he is a cattle rustler and its illegal in Indiana.

I'm so sorry for you and your neighbor. Hopefully, your peacock will attach himself to some other birds on the premises so he wont' be so lonely.

Does anyone know how to make a hen go broody? I have some Pekin ducks that have been mating, and apparently Pekin hens don't brood. If like to try and hatch a few of the eggs. I don't mind sacrificing egg production of that means I can get some ducklings to hatch. Any advice welcome! TIA

If it is horribly inconvenient, she'll go broody. It's not likely to happen in a convenient way for you, so the faster you make it horribly inconvenient, the more likely one will go broody. Wait til winter hits; one will probably try to hatch out a bunch of super-sensitive chicks around New Years.

If you really want them to do it at a convenient time, leave some eggs somewhere out of the way and wait til someone puffs up and blankets it.

 

[Greenthumb83]

@jchny2000

Glad there's going to be a lawsuit and at least he will be held accountable. Hope the authorities follow through and Jack gets paid.

x2
That's just awful.

 

[Greenthumb83]

Oh, that's too funny M2H! Saturday we went to a wedding in ft wayne a wedding in the evening. After we got home and put the kids to bed, I went out to check on the girls and found our dear old Pepper had died. It looked like from old age. No feathers out of place, just laying in the run. We will miss her, she was always under our feet keeping us company.

Sorry for your loss.

 

[racinchickins]

Quote: Incubation is a pretty delicate balancing act of temperature and humidity. I don't know of anyone who has been successful doing it with just a heat lamp. If you are just wanting a couple of ducks to hand raise, then I bet you can find them on here. I actually have 4 recently hatched muscovy ducklings on the ground right now that I'd like to get rid of, and I'm sure others do too. I also know at least one person on here @jchny2000 that raises pekins if those are what you really want.

Ask away. This is a great thread for learning. People are kind and happy to give advice and there are some very knowledgeable chicken folk that frequent here.

 

[Lengerich Farms]

@racinchickins
How much are you looking to get rid of them for? Monies tight, and unfortunate (long story) I have an ankle bracelet on so I can't come get them. I'd like to two or three. Bree's doesn't really matter to me, while I LOVE. The taste of duck, I'd like eggs from them too.

 

[Faraday40]

If it is horribly inconvenient, she'll go broody. It's not likely to happen in a convenient way for you, so the faster you make it horribly inconvenient, the more likely one will go broody. Wait til winter hits; one will probably try to hatch out a bunch of super-sensitive chicks around New Years.

If you really want them to do it at a convenient time, leave some eggs somewhere out of the way and wait til someone puffs up and blankets it.

so true!

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Two Buckeye Boys are using the chicken shed until they're large enough to process. They're still available for anyone that wants a flock rooster before we process...you can let me know.







@jchny2000
These Buckeyes are the most friendly, peace-loving breed I've ever had!

You can see the tarps I put up on the side toward the main flock. Can't wait to take them down after the boys are done with the little house as it's quite an "eye sore"!

X2 totally agree, I love them. Missing them a lot, but until all my coops are completely secure I am really afraid to bring them home.

I am considering selling my whole Swedish Flower Hen flock. Northern Indiana.


This year's pullets (3 in total). 21 weeks old.

Love this color - yellow band girl:

Yellow band girl again in the back.




Daisy (AKA - Whoopsie) Has a crest [@pipdzipdnreadytogo ... Daisy has a totally different personality than Tilly. Very much a normal SFH personality...different line!]




Winter (AKA - Cranky) No crest)






And the 2 year old hens. (2 in total)


Sally (The yellow-band pullet will look much like Sally...LOVE THIS COLOR!)




Shay. Beginning molt in this photo.

I love the SFH, yours are stunning.

I have 2 Silver Appenzeller Spitzhauben eggs under a broody right now. I can't wait to see what a Spitz x Orpington will look like. (Our only roos are orps) Can you imagine a big, round orp body with a mohawk? Should I call my mixes Appington Orphaubens or maybe Orpenzeller Sptizingtons?

BTW- Spitzhaubens are excellent foragers with unobstructed vision, fast reflexes, & good flyers. We kept the darker one with the short crest & recently sold the lighter one. So far, we're getting an egg a day. (She's our only white layer, so it's not difficult to identify her eggs.) The pullet eggs are still small, so I'll have to let you know what I think about my Spitz in a few more months.

They are so cute and perky! Love the breed!

Why considering selling.... well, I'm still not sure I'm going to do it.

I had the 2 groups of chicks this spring - the sfh and the Buckeyes. If they had brooded together I probably wouldn't feel the same way. But I'd like to give the Buckeyes a chance to see how their personality is and the sfh are a little hard on them right now just because they're older of course.

However, once the Buckeye cockerel figures out that he's a man, all that might change. I'll be interested to see how everyone behaves once they know there's a man around.

Agreed. Love the Buckeyes but waiting judgement until they are adults.

Does anyone plan on going to the swap meet in Knox next Sunday? I may take some birds to sell.

Gorgeous Rooster!