INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[Faraday40]

New Sci Project Idea......
After doing poultry sci experiments for 3 years in 4H, DD will be doing her 1st sci fair at school. The teacher said she should pick a topic she enjoys, so here's her idea:
Can you hatch store eggs? (She was on this site & found a thread about hatching fertilized eggs from Trader Joes.)

I just put the incubator into storage! I don't need or want chicks in Nov-Dec!!!
.... On the other hand, I agree that she should work with a topic of her choice. I tried to plant suggestions about egg production &/or more training using the chickens we have. We'll see what she picks, but so far she's pretty strong about her incubation experiment idea.

Meanwhile, my question is has anyone ever seen fertile eggs for sale at Whole Foods &/or Trader Joes? - or any chain stores? Are there any brands that sell "pastured" eggs that may need a roo to protect the hens? If not, we do have a few Asian Markets that sell quail eggs. Would they have a better chance of being fertile? Worst case, I suppose we could wash some of our eggs, drive them around a while, & then put them in the fridge before incubating.

When I mentioned quail eggs from the little store down the street, DD really lit up. I have zero quail experience & do not know anyone who keeps them. @jchny2000 - Are they difficult to raise? Smelly? Dusty? Noisy? Would a cage inside a chicken coop or garage be sufficient or do adults need to be warm in winter? Do you eat their meat? Does it taste like chicken?

 

[Leahs Mom]

@jchny2000
How old was your girl? I have some that are getting older too....


@greenthumb
Always sad to lose a bird under any circumstances.

When you were describing trying to get under the coop it was what I was afraid might happen with a raised coop and not being able to get to them. To that end, (for the chicken shed) my husband built frames that we put hardware cloth on to keep the birds (and predators) from getting under. They are screwed to the base of the shed.

You can see them in these photos. I think it's worth the effort to build them.

 

[ellymayRans]

I just went out to check my coops and saw my Mabel barred rock, oldest hen on the floor of the coop. She has passed away. Bless her heart, she was pretty awesome and will be missed very much. Really loved that little lady.

So sorry.

 

[Greenthumb83]

@jchny2000
How old was your girl? I have some that are getting older too....


@greenthumb
Always sad to lose a bird under any circumstances.

When you were describing trying to get under the coop it was what I was afraid might happen with a raised coop and not being able to get to them. To that end, (for the chicken shed) my husband built frames that we put hardware cloth on to keep the birds (and predators) from getting under. They are screwed to the base of the shed.

You can see them in these photos. I think it's worth the effort to build them.

We were back and forth with the idea of covering it, but when we moved them to the coop, they loved hiding from the afternoon sun under there, so we left it alone. Half of the run has roof and half has hardware cloth. They just prefer the coolness under there I think. But I have always worried in the back of my mind we would have this problem one day. The outside bottom is covered, so no predators can get in, but not being able to save a chicken was just as bad. It was a pretty helpless feeling, laying under there in chicken crap crying because I could not reach her. This is officially on the list of to-dos.

Btw, your coop is lovely. It has such a homey feel to it. We have a strand of Halloween lights on the table, hopefully going up soon. I also bought material for our nest box curtains a few weeks ago. I need to do those too.

 

[tmarsh83]

@leahs mom

I love the stair stepped logs. That's great.

 

[Leahs Mom]

@TMarsh

Those stair steps have saved my birds from bumble foot! I used to use one of those ramps and they would end up sliding on it. It would damage their feet and they would get bumble foot.

After I replaced it with the log steps - NO MORE BUMBLEFOOT!

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

New Sci Project Idea......
After doing poultry sci experiments for 3 years in 4H, DD will be doing her 1st sci fair at school. The teacher said she should pick a topic she enjoys, so here's her idea:
Can you hatch store eggs? (She was on this site & found a thread about hatching fertilized eggs from Trader Joes.)

I just put the incubator into storage! I don't need or want chicks in Nov-Dec!!!
.... On the other hand, I agree that she should work with a topic of her choice. I tried to plant suggestions about egg production &/or more training using the chickens we have. We'll see what she picks, but so far she's pretty strong about her incubation experiment idea.

Meanwhile, my question is has anyone ever seen fertile eggs for sale at Whole Foods &/or Trader Joes? - or any chain stores? Are there any brands that sell "pastured" eggs that may need a roo to protect the hens? If not, we do have a few Asian Markets that sell quail eggs. Would they have a better chance of being fertile? Worst case, I suppose we could wash some of our eggs, drive them around a while, & then put them in the fridge before incubating.

When I mentioned quail eggs from the little store down the street, DD really lit up. I have zero quail experience & do not know anyone who keeps them. @jchny2000 - Are they difficult to raise? Smelly? Dusty? Noisy? Would a cage inside a chicken coop or garage be sufficient or do adults need to be warm in winter? Do you eat their meat? Does it taste like chicken?

Super easy! I keep Coturnix Quail. Lay like crazy, and yes very tasty eggs & meat! I would compare the meat more to pheasant, or turkey. It takes me 4 minutes "to do" a bird. Not noisy, or stinky, the boys have a raspy little crow, and the girls sound like crickets. They do sing an egg song also! There is a ton of info on the net about the healthy benefits of quail eggs, especially raw. One fact that impressed me is how the raw eggs help chemo patients with nausea and other issues. Quail live a shorter life span, 3 years is about max. I rotate my breeders about every 6 months. Mine are in my hatching and brooding trailer. I do use artificial light for my quail, I hatch almost year around on them. Caging can be community breeding or separated, at least 3 hens per cock. Most important with cages is a soft roof. Or in a breeder cage a very low roof. Quail have burst of flight when spooked, so a hard roof will cause them to bonk their head, and usually break their neck. They are cold hardy, just need shelter from wet and wind. Coturnix Quail will not brood and hatch, must be incubated, or some folks use a bantam to broody hatch eggs. (Its been bred out of them for 5,000 years lol!) Inside your coop would be fine. Some people argue exposure to chickens is bad, I have hatched them together, brooded together with no issues.
If you can't find eggs locally that are fertile, I highly recommend James Marie Farms... http://www.jamesmariefarms.com/index.html best shipping I have ever seen, they use foam boxes for the eggs. Shipped from LA to IN and not a single damaged egg. I started my flock over this spring with 50 eggs, 46 hatched! Robbie is an awesome fella for her to talk quail to, also. He has been in the business pretty much his whole life.

@jchny2000
How old was your girl? I have some that are getting older too....


@greenthumb
Always sad to lose a bird under any circumstances.

When you were describing trying to get under the coop it was what I was afraid might happen with a raised coop and not being able to get to them. To that end, (for the chicken shed) my husband built frames that we put hardware cloth on to keep the birds (and predators) from getting under. They are screwed to the base of the shed.

You can see them in these photos. I think it's worth the effort to build them.

@Leahs Mom Mabel was about 5-1/2 at most. She was a young adult when I got her, but already laying. She was just a production barred rock, came with Bunny my late EE. We got her at the farm our first piglet came from. Farmer though both girls were "no good" bare backs, heads pecked. I snatched the poor things up and took them home, grrr. I wanted to tell him off for having way too many roosters for the poor hens!
Thanks everyone for the kind thoughts. Always hard losing one, she was pretty special.

 

[Lengerich Farms]

Can anyone identify this hen?

She's the tiniest **** chicken I've ever seen. Barley get two McNuggets out of her, but she's supposed to be a good
Lauer. Had her for a month now and NADA. But she's the o let one I can't identify

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Can anyone identify this hen?

She's the tiniest **** chicken I've ever seen. Barley get two McNuggets out of her, but she's supposed to be a good
Lauer. Had her for a month now and NADA. But she's the o let one I can't identify

Possibly a white layer, white earlobes, but that's a wives tale sometimes. When a chicken is rehomed, they will occasionally stop laying for a bit. It is stress from moving, new environment etc. Some breeds are more seasonal, and we are losing daylight pretty fast with fall upon us. I have around 60 hens and only gathered a dozen eggs today! UGH! Thats painful. Many are moulting, that slows or stops laying too.

 

[Indyshent]

Can anyone identify this hen?

She's the tiniest **** chicken I've ever seen. Barley get two McNuggets out of her, but she's supposed to be a good
Lauer. Had her for a month now and NADA. But she's the o let one I can't identify

Provided you're sure she's a she (not a great photo for sexing her) and she's fullblooded something and she's full grown, she's likely a black Minorca.